Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
by BingChiLing
Summary: Alyssa Chau Series #2. Bad hair days are running rampant all over Trenton. Someone is attacking unsuspecting women and dishing out unexpected makeovers. Will Alyssa, Ranger, and Joe be able to catch this hairy culprit before it's too late?
1. Chapter 1

**Hair Today. Gone Tomorrow.**

**(Alyssa Chau Series #2)**

_**Notes and Disclosures: **__Most of the characters and settings in this story are borrowed from the amazing world of Stephanie Plum by Janet Evanovich. Some of the plot similarities come from her first book in the series, "One for the Money." I am not making a profit from this story. _

_**A/N: **__I know it's been forever and a day since I last posted my first story "Sticks and Stones" but for the last few months I met what I felt was my own version of "Ranger" (although he was a marine). And sadly enough it didn't work out and he turned out to be more of a selfish and conceited prick like Morelli instead. Sometimes I find it hard to live in reality. *sigh_

_But! This is the second installment to my "Alyssa Chua" series and picks up right after "Sticks and Stones." I've written this a little darker than the first story. I hope you all enjoy Alyssa's adventures as much as I love writing about them and I truly appreciate those of you have been sticking it through with me. It's been thrilling writing this series and no more slacking on my behalf! =)_

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><p>I can't breathe. My lungs are about to explode out of my chest. Sweat was pouring down my face as if someone had dumped a bucket of smelly, salty, warm liquid on my head. I blinked my stinging eyes several times before keeling over in sheer agony. I fell to my knees clutching my chest with one hand while digging my fingers into the grass with the other gasping desperately trying to suck in as much air as I could to keep from passing out.<p>

_I'm going to die. Thank god, I put on clean underwear before leaving the apartment this morning._

Collapsing, I rolled onto my back as my fatigued muscles gave out from underneath of me unable to support my weight.

_I give up, I can't fight it anymore. I have no more fight left in me._

Closing my eyes and dropping my right arm over my eyes to block out the blazing sun, but a sudden overcast loomed over me. Squinting my eyes, I made out dark shadow of a large man towering over me blocking out the sun.

"Fuck you," I cursed at the shadowed figure.

I yelped in surprise as I was quickly yanking me to my feet by my arm.

"I hate you," I muttered angrily. "Just leave me here to die," I tried wriggling out of his grasp.

"Babe," the figure responded in a no-nonsense tone.

"Don't 'Babe' me, you prick. You're absolute pure evil!" I glared at him. "And how the hell is it that you don't have a single drop of sweat after that treacherous run and I'm sopping sweaty mess?" I shouted.

I scowled at the very tall, very muscular, very sexy Cuban man standing in front of me.

"Babe, sweat is sexy."

I scrunched my nose at him. If I was a woman who was in her right mind, I would've taken the opportunity to jump this man's bones. But as many who know me, I'm not a woman in her right mind. In fact, I'm a lunatic who makes a variety of poor decisions in life.

"Ranger, not everyone has the privilege of being born a Demi-God like you."

He quirked an eyebrow.

"I don't run. I told you that. How is this part of helping me train to be a Bounty Hunter anyways?"

"Babe, how are you going to chase down skips when you can't keep up?"

I snorted in disgust, "I'd casually stroll over to my piece of shit car and run them over. Simple. Just leave me here to die. I'm not running anymore," I pouted like a brat and sat my butt back down in the grass.

My name is Alyssa Chau, and this wasn't one of my finest moments. In fact ever since I became a Bounty Hunter for Vincent Plum's Bail Bonding Company, I haven't had very many fine moments. I'm not what you call a great Bounty Hunter, I often find myself in situations with egg in my face. No really, I literally get covered with egg on my face, sometimes it's trash, food, anything you name it, I'm sure I've been covered in it.

So if I'm such an awful Bounty Hunter, then why do I do it for a living you ask? Well it all happened after I was laid off from my cushy office job and after six months of unemployment I was desperate to find a job.

My best friend Misty Plum introduced me to her greasy, insatiable, sexual deviant of a cousin, Vinnie Plum. After a little bit of blackmailing on Misty's behalf a little over a month ago, I landed myself a job as a Bounty Hunter or Bond Enforcement Agent to be on the more technical side. So far, the job has gone well but being that most Bounty Hunters are usually former law enforcement, security officers, or ex-military, I didn't quite fit the bill.

I've gotten through this job out of pure dumb luck and minimal martial arts training during my teenage years but needless to say I needed to gain some proper training. Any reasonable person would know that one can't just get by on just pure luck. At some point, one's luck is bound to run out. But as I said before, I'm not known for being reasonable.

This is where Ranger comes in. Ranger is former Army Ranger/Special Ops badass who works on retainer for Vinnie on high-risk bonds. High-risk bonds meaning out of my league bail skips.

A month ago, I ran into some trouble with a skip, Wesley Stratton, whose association with a serial killer, Lenny "Pinky" Lupinski, gave me more than I was able to chew on my first week as an official Bounty Hunter. So, Connie, Vinnie's Office Manager, called in a favor to Ranger to show me the ropes.

Ranger is one of the best in the business. And when I say the best, I'm not exaggerating. He's as good as they come. He helped equip me with a gun and offers me tips on the best techniques to apprehend skips — but I've also been told that I'm not the best at following instructions either so needless to say, I don't listen to his advice very well.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried that my temper tantrum with Ranger would end up having me wake up one day in some third world country mysteriously. Ranger can be scary at times and I've been told he doesn't always operate within the confines of the law.

Ranger is a man of mystery. He's Batman. On any other given day Ranger was my mentor and friend but today he was my tormentor.

"It'll get easier as you make it routine, Babe."

"Easier, my ass. I'm not fucking Batman like you with endless peaks and valleys in the form muscles. I'm hurting in places I didn't even know existed. Even my teeth hurt. My teeth, Ranger! Running has made my teeth hurt. What do have to say to that?"

He shot me his infamous blank look which was a thick wall impenetrable to emotions. God, I hated that look. He barely ever spoke more than he needed which usually means his answers were generally consisted of few words. He was infuriating. If I had the capability, I'd kick his ass.

"Babe, temper," he warned.

_Shit_, I hated it when he did that. He had some sort of ESP or some crap like that — he had a way of knowing exactly what I was thinking without me actually saying it.

"We'll walk the rest of the way back," he pulled me back to my feet sliding his hand to the small of my back and guided me down the dirt path in the direction of my apartment complex.

After painfully dragging my ass back to the apartment, I reached over to punch the elevator button but was intercepted by Ranger steering me towards the stairwell.

"Seriously?" I shouted. "I can't make it up there! I don't even think I can lift my leg up. You want to take the stairs be my fucking guest. But the only way I'm getting up those stairs is if I'm carried up there 'cause there's no way I'll make it."

"It's only one flight of stairs."

"And I only have _one_ life to spare," I sneered. "I'd rather live to see another day, thank you very much."

"Babe." The word _Babe_ could refer to several different things from Ranger. It could be said in affection, raw sexuality, amusement, or I'm not kidding around. This was the later.

"I don't think so, Ranger," I scoffed reaching out to punch the elevator button again.

Ranger grabbed me before I could light up the button and threw me over his shoulder. He placed me down on the ground in front of the stairs.

"I despise you," I growled stomping up the stairs like a child throwing a temper tantrum which was pretty dumb of me because each stomp sent a shooting pain up my legs.

After accomplishing my task of climbing up Mt. Everest ‒ ok, it was only one flight of stairs, but still difficult, none the less — I pushed the door open in a huff stopping dead in my tracks at the sight of a sandy blond-haired man in a nice light gray Burberry suit holding a bouquet of red roses standing at my door.

Ranger stepped up behind me and placed a hand on my waist as if to hold me back. I pulled away from Ranger's grasps marching up to the man with my hands balled into a tight fist and drove it straight into the man's gut dropping him to the floor.

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><p><em>Are you still with me? I sure hope so! Let me know what you think so far!<em>


	2. Chapter 2

_**Previous Chapter:**__ Ranger stepped up behind me and placed a hand on my waist as if to hold me back. I pulled away from Ranger's grasps marching up to the man with my hands balled into a tight fist and drove it straight into the man's gut dropping him to the floor._

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 2<strong>

"What the hell are you doing here, Dickie?" I muttered angrily.

Dickie Orr ‒ my pond scum ex-fiancé. I broke off our engagement more than three years ago after I caught him and Joyce Barnhardt, the town floozy, playing doctor on our dining room table. Shortly after the end of our short-lived engagement, Dickie married Joyce.

To top off my whirlwind life changes in the past month, Dickie re-entered my life by professing his love for me, Joyce accused me of sleeping with Dickie, and I was accused of being in cahoots with Dickie in Joyce's murder. Sound farfetched?

Well, it happened. I unfortunately didn't have an alibi for my whereabouts when Joyce disappeared, so I ended up becoming a fugitive on the run. While on the run, Ranger and I grew closer as he was the one person who believed in my innocence and stepped up to help clear my name.

He lent me a car and money, helped me investigate, and kept the left side of my bed warm — the later part is not what you're thinking — ok maybe it is a little but it's not completely what you're thinking — trust me, my honor was left intact — well, what little honor I had. With my investigative skills — ok more like relentless curiosity — I stumbled upon Joyce's dead body and uncovered Lupinski's mass grave of young women.

Turned out Lupinski was a misogynistic serial killer using Stratton's construction sites as a mass grave to cover up his crimes. Lupinski's plan was to frame Stratton for the murder of his wife and take over the business. It turned out that Stratton's wife wasn't dead, in fact, she was very much alive and living in sin with Lupinski. After I told the police where to find Stratton's wife, they found her unconscious in the living room floor where she overdosed on a combination of different drugs. She was charged with conspiracy and sentenced to a mental facility due to the holes in her memory and not all of her marbles were there.

"I've missed you. You won't return any of my calls, so I thought I'd pay you a visit before you left for work. I love you, Kitten," Dickie pulled me in for a wet sloppy kiss.

I smacked him across the face, "What the hell is your problem?"

His eyes widened at the sight of Ranger stepping up behind me. He gulped, "Kitten, I need to talk to you."

"I have nothing to say to you, Dickie, and I certainly don't want to hear anything you have to say."

"Is everything alright, Alyssa?" a concerned voice came from down the hall belonging to an plump old wrinkled gray-haired man poking his head out of his apartment door.

"Yes, Mr. Woleski. I'm sorry if we disturbed you. Everything's fine."

"Ok, if these men are bothering you, I have a shotgun itching to be used."

I scrunched my nose. "Thank you, Mr. Woleski. I'll keep that in mind."

I liked my apartment complex. It was far from being luxurious but my neighbors were mostly eccentric old folks. They were friendly and mainly kept to themselves. Best part was the building was old as dirt so it was built solid and to last.

I shoved past Dickie and unlocked my door. "If you're not going to leave anytime soon, then you might as well get in here so we don't draw any more attention from the neighbors."

"Kitten, these are for you," he extended the roses to me.

I cracked a smile. "Aww, Dickie. You shouldn't have," I replied sarcastically walking into the kitchen and dropping them into the trash bin.

"Kitten—"

"—Stop fucking calling me that!" I slammed the refrigerator door and tossed Ranger a bottle of water. "You wanted to talk. So talk," I demanded.

"Ki—"

I glared at him.

"—Alyssa…I was hoping we could talk in private," he glanced over at Ranger nervously.

I plopped myself down into the seat at the dining room table and chugged my water. "Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of my friend, Ranger," I hitched my thumb behind me at Ranger leaning against the door frame leading into the kitchen. I paused, "Unless you would rather leave, I wouldn't blame you,"

"I'm good," he replied unfazed.

"See, he says he's good," I smiled sweetly at Dickie. "Now speak."

He swallowed hard and took a seat in the chair at the end of the table, "Alyssa, you know that I love you. I've always loved you. That has never changed. The past three years, I've been going stir crazy without you in my life. There wasn't ever a moment that I didn't think of you. I need you in my life."

"You're a riot, Dickie. I don't know whether to laugh at you for your idiocy or to feel sorry for you for your disillusioned fantasies. You certainly have no shame, do you? Your wife hasn't even been in the ground for more than a month and you've already dismissed her existence."

"I've not dismissed Joyce. I just never cared for Joyce the way I cared — _care_ — for you."

A month ago, I may have fallen for this act from Dickie. I mourned the end of our relationship for three years. Hanging onto the notion that there might be a slight possibility that he would come back to me even though I knew he was a low-down dirty scumbag. Dickie was a handsome, successful lawyer with a wonderful family and fat Trust fund.

He was someone that could've changed my life for the best. I wanted his family to be mine. But given everything that happened with Pinky and the two men who recently entered my life, I realized that Dickie was not the man for me and it was time for me to move on.

"You cared enough to marry her and stay married for more than three years."

"I didn't want to marry her. I wanted to marry you! But you broke my heart, and I had no choice but to turn to Joyce."

"I'm sorry, what?" I shot him an incredulous look. "_I_ broke _your_ heart? I believe you had a _choice_ on whether or not you should screw Joyce Barnhardt on our dining room table on our anniversary."

"And for that, I am incredibly sorry."

"Sorry you cheated on me, or sorry that you were caught."

He paused, "Both."

"You're absolutely incredible, Dickie."

"Alyssa, with the others it wasn't love. I loved _YOU_! I wanted _YOU_ to be my wife. I wanted _YOU_ to be the mother of my children. I still want you to be."

"_Others_?" I screeched.

Dickie shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"How many _others_ was there, Dickie?" I pressed.

A tiny bead of sweat dripped down his face. "Kitten, it was only sex. They didn't mean anything to me."

"HOW MANY?" I shouted bringing my hands on the table as I stood and leaned into him.

"I'm not sure. It's not important."

"You're not sure or you fucked too many that you lost count," I clenched my teeth.

_Pause._

"I'm going to be fucking sick," I muttered.

"Kitten," he grabbed my hand.

I yanked my hand back, "I said don't call me that and don't you dare fucking touch me again or I'll take that dull butter knife on the table and drive it straight into your crotch."

He quickly leaned back into his chair.

"You were the second man I've ever slept with and you were out there screwing countless number of women! Knowing full well how I feel about intimacy!" I swallowed back a large lump growing in the back of my neck.

I thought I could handle the fact that he cheated on me with the one slut but there were several others? I mean I had a notion that there were more. Misty even hinted at me towards the fact that there were probably more. But I chose to be in denial and now that it's being presented in front of me, I couldn't help but feel my heart breaking all over again.

"All those late nights you had to work?" I ran my hand through my hair finally realizing how stupid I had been. "Oh god, I was such an idiot. Everyone knew except for me. The countless number of times people hinted towards me and I defended you."

"Please let me explain, Alyssa…"

"Oh by all means, please explain. I'd love to hear your explanation as to why it was so important for you to screw every woman within a ten mile radius."

"Like I said, Alyssa, with those other women — with Joyce — it meant nothing. I never loved them. It was just sex. The years I was married to Joyce, I tried to love her, but she wasn't you."

"If you loved me, then why would you need _other_ women."

"W-well, I…"

"Spit it out!"

"I'm a man, Kitten. I have a strong sexual appetite. You were so reserved and…"

"And what?" I shouted angrily clenching my fist.

"…and so inexperienced. Physically, I just wanted to do more and I just sometimes need a little more upstairs."

"Upstairs?" I could feel the heat rising in my face as I felt Ranger move behind me and place his hands around my arms as if to steady me.

"You know…" he hesitated and made a hand cupping gesture to his chest.

"So I wasn't enough for you, physically," I gritted my teeth.

"You were more than enough for me. It's just that I'm a red-blooded man. I have desires — needs."

"So if you weren't physically attracted to me and I was obviously not sexually enough for you, why did you try to marry me? Why did you string me along for two years?"

I was growing less and less patient with this conversation. I was tired and knew I was a mess from my awful morning run with Ranger and just wanted to soak in the shower.

"Kitten, I'm incredibly attracted to you. You're beautiful. You're adorable. You're…_cute_. But, Kitten, sometimes I just needed _sexy_. You were the perfect woman to be by my side at company functions and family affairs. Joyce never fully was able to grasp onto the classical beauty role of a doting lawyer's wife. My parents adored you which would ensure that we would never be cut off from the trust fund and greatened the chances of my father passing on the family business to me and not my brother. You were going to make the perfect wife.

"You know the age old saying, 'Woman on the streets and freak in the sheets.' Well, you were the 'woman on the streets' but Joyce and the others were the 'freaks in the sheets.' So, I needed both for balance."

"Dickie, if Ranger wasn't standing behind me right now, I'd have torn your throat out by now. Did you come here to tell me how lucky I should feel to be your marriage choice? That I wasn't a good enough screw for you, but I was the prized trophy wife your parents wanted you to marry."

"Kitten, you aren't listening to me. You're a great screw, I just sometimes needed something more to milk and something a little freakier."

"You're fucking disgusting. Thank you for stopping by and enlightening me. You've reminded me of why I made the right choice to leave you and how much I loathe your fucking existence."

"Alyssa, you must remember how good we were together. I bet you still have the engagement ring I bought for you."

"No, I threw it down the garbage disposal the second I left you."

His jaw dropped, "A-Alyssa, you've got to be kidding me. That was a $50,000 diamond ring!"

I was kidding him. It was something I had placed in my little brown box tucked away in the back of my closet but now it actually will go down the garbage disposal.

"Well, it's floating around some sewage now."

"Why didn't you just pawn it? You could've gotten some money out of it and at least gotten some decent furniture from it," he flabbergasted looking around at my mismatched second-hand furniture.

"The last thing I wanted to do was be reminded of your cheating ass. Plus, of the years you knew me, when have I ever cared about money?"

"Alyssa, I could provide a better life for you. You can leave this dump and stop working that god awful job as a Bounty Hunter."

"I don't need to be provided for — I can provide for myself. And I like my job just fine."

My phone began ringing.

"So, did you come here to try and win me back with this great speech of yours or did you have something else grander in mind?"

_Ring._

"Alyssa, are you going to get that?" Dickie asked.

I shook my head, "Reporters have been calling for weeks trying to get an exclusive interview on Pinky Serial Killer case. It's probably just another reporter. If it's important they'll leave a message. Stop stalling. I'm growing tired of your company and you're wasting mine and Ranger's time."

_Beep. _

"_Cupcake, I just finished pulling an all-nighter. I'm heading home to get some R&R. The boys miss you, I can come over tonight with dinner. Make sure you wear those sexy little red lace panties I love on you. Prepare yourself because I'm going to__—__"_

I pulled away from Ranger and hurried over and grabbed the receiver blushing. "Joe!" I said out of breath.

Joe Morelli, the other male addition to my life aside from Ranger.

"Cupcake, it's good to hear your voice."

Joe was a cop for the Trenton Police Department we met during his first apprehension of Pinky. The Morellis have a reputation for being charming womanizers and I, like a fool, fell for the Morelli charm instantly. We've been seeing each other over the past month after the case was closed technically we had seen more than a little of each other before the case ended.

But for legality sake we'll say it was after. Joe occupied my bed and my heart the night Pinky broke into my apartment looking for something he believed I hid from him and handcuffed me to my shower rod — naked. Ranger came to my rescue, but Joe stayed to "protect" my body.

Although most of our "dates" consisted of him bringing over Pino's for dinner and him "sleeping" over, I've looked forward to the time we spend together. He was easy to be with and not to mention easy on the eyes.

He was recently promoted to Homicide Detective after receiving outstanding recognition for his work on the Pinky case. Now that he's made detective he's been working even longer extended hours not allowing us to fully get know each other the way a real couple should in the beginning stages of a blossoming relationship.

"I miss you, Cupcake."

"I miss you too," I whispered softly hoping Ranger and Dickie wouldn't hear.

"I'll drop by at seven tonight with Pino's—"

"—Don't forget the dessert," I added.

"Oh, Cupcake, I wouldn't ever dare forget dessert. I'm going to eat you for dessert. I can't wait to run my tongue—"

"—Joe, I'm in the middle of something. You should go home and get some rest. I'll see you later tonight."

"What are you in the middle of?" he asked.

"I-I have company."

"What kind of company."

"Uh, just some…friends," I stuttered searching for a way to bend the truth.

"This early in the morning? Who are these friends?"

"Detective Morelli, what's with the twenty questions? Are you trying to accuse me of something?" my stubbornness kicked in.

"Cupcake," he pressed.

"Ranger and Dickie, ok?" I barked.

"What the hell are they doing there? You know how I feel about Ranger. He's a dangerous psychopath. Do you even know anything about him? He's been known to work above the law and nobody even knows where he lives. The address on his file is for an empty lot. I don't like you hanging out with him."

"You don't like me hanging out with him? Who the hell are you to tell me who I can spend time with? If I want to spend time with a dangerous psychopath that's my fucking choice! Not that he's a fucking psychopath but I will spend all the time I want with him!"

"Cupcake, he's nothing but a hired thug."

"Fuck you, Morelli. You know what? Forget about dinner. Go take care of your boys on your own, asshole." I slammed the phone down and stepped back into the dining room.

Dickie stared at me in awe and Ranger's lip twitched into a half smile.

"I think you're finished with everything you have to say," I glared angrily at Dickie. "You can see yourself to the door," I pointed towards the front of the apartment.

"Alyssa, I actually came here on official business," he said in his lawyer voice.

"Oh this has got to be good," I smirked taking another swig of water as I lowered myself back into my seat. Ranger remained standing behind me with his hand on my shoulder like a protective bodyguard. Or perhaps, he was trying to protect Dickie from my fists of fury.

"I don't know how to break this to you, Alyssa — wait are you seeing Joe Morelli?"

"That's none of your business. Stop stalling!" I barked.

"I'm just trying to understand, Alyssa. Morelli has a reputation of loving the ladies just as much as I do. What gives him a pass and not me?"

I was stumped. In a way Dickie was right but I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of letting him realize he was. Besides, Joe and I haven't officially said we're a couple. I wasn't even sure what we were to be honest.

"Not that it's any of your business, but Joe and I aren't _engaged_ to be married like you and I were. Plus, we're not in a relationship. Now spit out your official business or get the fuck out."

"I'm not trying to pry, Alyssa. I'm just trying to watch out for you. I don't want you to get hurt by Morelli. I went to school with Morelli and he went in and out of women like it was a quickie mart. He was a legend," he said with a slight hint of envy in his voice.

I didn't grow up in Trenton so this reputation people keep telling me about Joe was unknown to me. I only moved to Trenton for school and decided to stay after I graduated with my Business Degree.

The Joe Morelli I knew and fell for was an incredibly sexy full-blooded Italian who was a dedicated cop. As far as I was concerned and could observe was that after he came back from his stint in the Navy, he did a great deal of maturing and is not the same man as he was before. But then again, I've never really been one to have stellar judgment of people. Was I just turning the other cheek like I did with Dickie because of my infatuation with Joe?

My eyes darkened. "Dickie, you do not have the right to talk about another man's reputation given that you don't have much of a shining one, yourself. Now drop the subject or I will forcefully remove you."

"Ok," he shifted uncomfortably. "Alyssa, there's no easy way for me to tell you this but I've come here to inform you that Susanne Oz has passed away."

I dropped my bottle of water spilling it all over myself. Dickie jumped up out of his seat to help me.

"I said don't touch me!" I screeched angrily.

Dickie scrambled back into his seat.

Tears began engulfing my eyes, "Why are you telling me this?"

"As Ms. Oz's attorney, I've come here to inform you that Ms. Oz has named you as her full beneficiary."

I sat speechless, "W-what? Why?"

Suzie Oz was one of my first apprehensions as a Bounty Hunter. She was an elderly woman who was arrested for breaking and entering into a young family's home. It turned out that the home she broke into was the house that her and her late husband built together and shared a number of life memories in. On the anniversary of his death, she broke into the house hoping to feel the presence of her husband.

After hearing her story, I knew I couldn't let her go to jail. So, I convinced the family to drop the charges against her. Since then, I've been dropping by to visit every free chance I had. I loved every minute I spent with her. She'd tell me stories of her and her husband's adventures and their time together. Being with her made me wonder if that's what it would feel like if I were to have had a chance to grow up knowing my grandmother and if I would ever find the kind of love that her and her husband shared. Was it really possible to love someone that much until their dying day?

"My understanding is that you made quite an impression on Ms. Oz. She stated that you were like the granddaughter she never had."

"I-I just saw her yesterday. She was fine. We were pruning her rose bushes. She made me cookies," I said in a shocked state.

Ranger squeezed my shoulder.

Dickie remained silent.

"How did she die?"

"She died of natural causes. A neighbor found her last night sitting on her porch rocking chair. You'll be glad to know she didn't suffer."

I sniffled and nodded in agreement.

"Now there's the matter of Ms. Oz's Will. She left everything to you, Alyssa."

"Everything?"

He nodded. "Ms. Oz has quite a nice life insurance policy and a sizeable bank account. She also left you the deed to her home."

I shook my head, "I don't understand. Why me? I've only known Suzie for about a month. There must've been someone else that she's known longer or is closer to. I did what any other person would've done. I just checked up on her from time to time and helped her out around the house. She was all alone. If anything I learned in this past month's events is that nobody should feel like their alone."

"Apparently you did more for her in the past month than anybody else has done for her since the passing of her husband," Dickie said reassuringly. He paused before continuing, "Alyssa, she left you a quarter of a million dollars."

"W-what?" I stuttered.

"That's quite a bit of money you've come into Alyssa for spending just a short month with the woman."

I jerked my head up, "Are you insinuating that I was using Suzie for her money?"

"No, Alyssa. I'm not trying to insinuate anything. I'm just saying that you're pretty lucky."

I shook my head. "I don't deserve it."

"Of course you do, Kitten. You can get out of this hellhole. The house is pretty nice part of town if you fix it up a bit and you could quit that awful job."

"My apartment is not a hellhole. I happen to like it here and stop telling me to quit my job!" I jumped up irritably wiping away my tears. "If what you say is true, then I get to decide what happens with everything, right?"

He nodded as Ranger wrapped his arms around me.

"Good, then I want you to write this all down because I'm only going to say this once. Ranger, here, is going to be my witness," I placed my hands over his arm that was wrapped around my chest. "Suzie's house — I want it to go to the Russo Family."

"Who are the Russos and why them?"

"The Russos are currently residing in Suzie's old house that her husband built. They're a small growing family living in a tiny home and were kind enough to drop the charges against Suzie after she broke into their house. They, of all people, will appreciate and honor the memory of Suzie and her late husband in that home."

"Alyssa, but the house is yours. If you don't want to live in it, you could sell it."

"Shut up, Dickie. This is what I want. As for the money this is how I want you to split it up after all of Suzie's funeral arrangements and whatever outrageous fees you charge for your time — I want a quarter of the money to be donated to the Trenton P.D., a quarter to the Stark Community Youth Center, and the remainder split equally among the King's Community Center and The Sunshine Children and Family Services in Brooklyn, NY in honor of Charles and Susanne Oz."

"You want to donate every single penny?" Dickie balked.

"Yes. That money does not belong to me but since legally Suzie left it to me, I believe the best way to utilize the money share it with those who need it most. It's what Suzie would've wanted."

"I think you're making a mistake, Alyssa. You are someone that needs the money and you should consider making some investments with it."

"If you do not follow through exactly as I've requested, I will hire my own lawyer and take you to court," I said firmly.

"I understand, Alyssa. There's no need for that but why the two organizations in Brooklyn?"

"Dickie Orr, you truly are an asshole. Did you even care about me in the slightest bit while we were together?" I stepped out of Ranger's embrace.

"Of course I cared about you! But you can't expect me to remember all of the details to everything you've told me, do you? You were so private about your past any ways, I never thought to push you."

"I spent most of my childhood in Brooklyn. Sunshine was the foster care facility that cared for me and the community center is where I spent most of my time growing up. That was a detail in which is a big fucking part of who I am today and was something I shared with you repeatedly. It's something that should've been an important piece of information about me for you to remember."

"I want you to leave now, Dickie. I don't want to see you again until you've completed the paperwork and then after that I never want to see your face ever again." I paused and bit back tears, "Do as I ask for once, Dickie. You owe that much to me. And don't mention my name in any of the business proceedings. I want to make sure that everyone realizes that the money is being donated by the Ozs."

"Alyssa‒" Dickie started to speak but was interrupted by Ranger pulling him out of his chair and pushing him towards the door.

I opened the door as Ranger deposited him into the hall.

"Oh and, Dickie, one more thing," I stood in the doorframe. "Stop telling people we're fucking engaged or I'll arrange to have you mysteriously disappear."

I slammed the door and took off for the bedroom and found exactly what I was looking for in the back of my closet. I charged past Ranger and went straight to the kitchen and stood over the sink. I held my breath as I held the sparkling diamond over the drain. Ranger came up behind me and enclosed my hand in his.

"That's a lot of money to throw away."

I sucked in a deep breath, "I know, but I don't want the money. I don't want any reminders. I don't even know why I hung onto it in the first place!"

"I can't believe she's gone," I sniffed. Death seems to consume my life.

"You're not a death curse, Babe," Ranger kissed the top of my head reassuringly and led me to the living room.

Did I say that out loud? "I don't understand, why me?"

"You have a big heart, it's hard not to see it," he sat me down on the couch.

"That asshole. I can't believe him," I clenched the ring in my hand.

A sharp pain hit my heart as I looked down at the shiny object in my hand. I looked up and Ranger and held the ring out to him, "Here, you do something with it. I don't want to ever see it ever again. In fact, pawn the sucker and pocket the money for yourself. I'm sure that I'll be owing you in the future so you might as well keep a running balance on me."

"Babe," he smiled slightly pulling me into him holding me tighter and pocketed the ring.

I tried to pry myself away from him, "Ranger, don't. I'm all wet. I don't want to get you all wet too."

"Babe, too easy," he murmured taking my earlobe into his mouth pulling my shirt off. "You being wet is a good thing."

I blushed.

"And you have plenty going on upstairs," he kissed me softly on the lips cupping my breast in his large manly hands.

I closed my eyes and moaned, "Ranger…"

"And you're incredibly sexy," he kissed my neck.

"Stop it," I breathed.

"Are you sure?" he moved to my shoulder.

"No," I moaned. Wait! "Yes!" I shouted jumping back.

I needed to make sure that I kept myself in check around Ranger. Being with him could prove to be very dangerous. A girl could get lost in his flawless mocha skin and sensual kisses. I had to work especially hard to keep myself from falling for Ranger since he's clearly stated that he doesn't do relationships. As for me, I don't do casual sex.

He grinned, "I thought you told the cop that you'll spend all the time you want with me."

I scoffed, "You men are absolutely relentless."

"Training tomorrow. Be ready to go at six."

I opened my mouth to complain but before I could get the words out he was gone like a poof of smoke.

"Showoff," I stuck my tongue out.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Previous Chapter:**__ He grinned, "I thought you told the cop that you'll spend all the time you want with me."_

_I scoffed, "You men are absolutely relentless."_

"_Training tomorrow. Be ready to go at six."_

_ I opened my mouth to complain but before I could get the words out he was gone like a poof of smoke. _

_ "Showoff," I stuck my tongue out._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 3<strong>

"Uh, hello? Anybody here?" I asked looking around the bond's office.

"Yeah, behind here," a woman with a thick Jersey accent spoke behind a massive stack of files.

I peeked around the files and waved at a big-haired, well-endowed petite woman, "Hey, Connie. I couldn't even see you behind this tower."

"No kidding! These files are consuming me. I can't file them fast enough. Let me know if you know of anybody interested in a low paying crappy file clerk job."

"Well, when you put it that way, I'm surprised they're not beating down the door to get their application in," I laughed.

"I tell it like it is, so what's with you and Officer Hottie?"

I shrugged, "There's nothing going on."

"That's not what the Burg grapevine has been saying. Rumor has it that you two have been spending quite a bit of time with each other."

The Burg is a town that should be classified on its own apart from Trenton. The town's foundation is populated with strong Catholic Italian families whose gossip grapevine was as resilient as a bird determined to fly south for the winter. Think of it as the Stepford lifestyle of Jersey Italians — perfect little Italian families filled with imperfections behind closed doors.

"Well, we've had a few dinners together, nothing really serious. Anyways, do you have anything for me today?"

"Uh huh," she replied obviously not believing me. "I've got two for you. Stanley Pritchett for public urination and Bill Sizemore for dealing," she said handing me two files.

"Great. Thanks, Connie. I'll swing by before closing and help you out with some of the filing."

"You're a sweetheart," she smiled disappearing back behind the files.

I headed towards my new yellow Volkswagen Convertible Beetle. Ok, it was an old 1999 beater but it was new to me. It was a fun car that I splurged a bit after I collected my skip fee for bringing in Stratton a month ago. I had Connie split the ten thousand dollar fee in half between me and Ranger.

But after I deposited my five thousand dollar check into my bank account I noticed that there a mysterious five thousand was already deposited into my account. So I went ahead and paid my rent two months in advanced, purchased a used car, paid off all of my credit card balances that I racked up from being unemployed, and went on an insane shopping spree with Misty.

Now I'm ass broke again. How does one splurge through ten grand within a short four week span you may be asking. I'll sum it up for you in two words ‒ _SHOE SALE_. I will stand by the fact that I wasn't raised with the understanding of the value of a dollar and how to invest my money properly since I was orphaned at the age of ten.

I started thinking about the money that Suzie left for me. Honestly, Dickie was right. I could really use the money and Suzie's house was cozy. I wouldn't have to worry about how I would make the next month's rent anymore.

I shook my head, _"No, Alyssa, stop being so selfish. You're doing the right thing. There are others that are more deserving than you."_

I slipped into my car and cranked up the A/C immediately. Thank god for small upgrades from my last POS car. My last car, if you could call it that, was a rusty beat up Chevy Nova with a broken driver's side door that wouldn't open and busted A/C unit.

Not having access to an A/C unit during the Jersey heat wave was absolutely unbearable. But now the Nova was in car heaven after being shot up by Pinky, vandalized with the words _Concha_ [Cunt] sprayed onto the side, and then finally blown up by Pinky along with my prized possession — my Salt 'n Pepa cassette tape that I managed to hold onto from my youth all these years.

This little incident made me a fifteen minute celebrity donning me the nickname of _Bombshell Bounty Hunter_. You'd think that nickname was compliment but it's more like an insult considering the car bombing wasn't my fault.

Before you knew it I was standing in front of a brown door labeled 404. Man, I need to stop running off on tangents in my own head. I didn't even recall how I got myself to Stanley Pritchett's apartment.

Before my hand connected with the cool steel of the apartment door, it swung open revealing a skinny potbellied white male with long stringy greasy gray hair and beard bearing a wide-gapped toothy grin in a single untied dirty white cotton robe with his shriveled up ding-a-ling flapping about freely.

I threw Pritchett an incredulous look and shouted, "What the fu—"

A stream of warm fluid hit my red chucks as Pritchett cackled madly. I jumped back realizing that he was pointing his little dickens straight at me and continued to relieve himself on my favorite pair of chucks.

I balled up my fist and charged after him, he retreated back into his apartment prancing merrily through his apartment relieving himself all over his apartment. This man had an amazing endless amount of liquids stored in his bladder and his apartment had a horrendous stench that could very well be classified as a gas chamber. I reached out to grab him as he tried to jump over the couch only to make matters worse because now I had managed to disrobe him.

"What the hell is your problem, you crazy old man!" I shouted after him as he dashed out the door and down the hall.

I pushed myself up off the couch giving myself some leverage to torpedo myself out the door after Pritchett. The urine had seeped through my shoes soaking my socks. My toes squished inside my dampened socks. I choked back the bile building up in my throat as I thought about my urine soaked shoes.

I slipped on a small puddle as I chased Pritchett out of the apartment. Sliding out the door as my feet were thrown from underneath me, I slammed into the wall across the hall as I fell to the ground. My arm was now soaking wet, dry heaved for a second before standing back up.

"When I get ahold of you old man, you're going to wish you could stay in jail!" I shouted after him his crazy cackling being drowned out by the closing elevator doors.

I took off down the stairs. My feet squishing deeper into the liquid filth with every connection my foot made against the hard cement steps. Sweat was dripping into my eyes causing them to sting, I couldn't wipe away the tears since my arms and hands were covered with urine. At this moment, I would give anything to be covered in garbage instead. My nostrils were filled with an unbelievable pungent smell which I was starting to realize was coming from me.

I reached the bottom of the stairs wheezing from exhaustion but continued to push on bolting out the front door. Taking long strides down the sidewalk, I gave chase after a very tiny, very white ass reflecting sunbeams off each cheek as it swayed back and forth down the sidewalk.

I was able to catch up with Pritchett on the account that he was barefoot running on the pavement that was hot enough to fry an egg. Tackling him down into the grass, he was able to wriggle out of my grasps. Despite the fact that he man weighed next to nothing, he was a slippery fellow.

"Hold still you crazy old man!" I grabbed him by the ankle and pulled him back down to the grass.

"You can't catch me! You can't catch me!" he recited repeatedly.

I tried climbing on top of him and cuffing him but he ended up slipping sliding away from me. I grabbed ahold of his legs and we rolled around on the ground and at some point his junk skimmed my face.

"Fuuucck! Ugghh!" I shouted trying to put distance between my face and Pritchett's leaky faucet. Thank God I didn't have a big breakfast or I would've lost it all right there and then.

Pritchett rolled over on his stomach jumped up and body slammed him down to the ground. Bright red and blue flashes of light caught the corners of my eyes. I struggled with Pritchett as he squirmed around and we continued to roll around in the grass.

A grinning handsome medium built officer stepped out of the driver side followed by a stocky black man closely behind. "Ma'am you know this kind of kinky stuff should be done in the privacy of your home, not in broad daylight in the middle of a nice neighborhood," a handsome officer smiled.

"Why, Officer Costanza," I huffed stumbling to my feet, "what brings you out to this neck of the woods?"

Carl grinned at me and looked down at Pritchett, "Looks like you could you use a hand."

I stomped my foot down on Pritchett's back as he tried to crawling away, "It's nothing that I can't handle."

He stepped forward and quickly retracted as his smile quickly slid off of his face. "Good God, Alyssa! What the hell is that smell," he grimaced shielding his nose and mouth with his forearm.

"Uh, that would be me," I replied sheepishly.

Car's partner, Big Dog. yanked Pritchett to his feet and cuffed him as a stream of urine shot out just short of Carl's feet.

"Whoa! What the fuck!" Big Dog barked out. _No pun intended._

"Yeah, he's a squirter," I replied dryly.

"Well, that certainly explains the smell. Make sure you lay down some newspaper in the back before setting his nasty ass down on the seat back there," Carl instructed Big Dog.

"So you never told me what brought you out here," I pressed.

"We got a couple of anonymous calls that some crazy tiny Asian girl was chasing a naked man down Kelsey Avenue. Considering that there aren't that many crazy Asian girls roaming around this town. Big Dog and I couldn't miss out on an opportunity to see the Bombshell Bounty Hunter in action."

"Ha ha. Very funny, Carl," I replied sarcastically sticking my tongue out at him. "I'm in my right mind to walk over there and give you a big bear hug just to rub some the _action_ off on you."

Carl Costanza was an old college acquaintance of mine and a callous flirt. We took a few classes together and frequented a number of parties during our four year tenure at The College of New Jersey. Carl helped me get through my Business Law classes. After graduation, we went our separate ways. Years later as fate placed me into my new career as a Bounty Hunter and Carl's career path steered him towards law enforcement finding ourselves back in each other's lives once again.

Carl stepped back hands up in the air as if he was surrendering, "You know, Bombshell, any other day, I would jump at the opportunity have you rub up against me. But I think I'll have to pass this time around. I have to say seeing you roll around on the ground was hot though, next time try replacing the naked old man with a buxom young blond," he winked.

"Yeah, I'll take that into consideration next time, Carl," I rolled my eyes partially at his crude sense of humor and partly for his constant reference to my infamous nickname. You have one car blow up on you and suddenly you're labeled as the "Bombshell Bounty Hunter." "Well, as much as I'd love to continue this conversation with you. Standing out in the baking sun is not helping my cause, so I best be moving along," I gave him a two fingered salute.

"Sure thing, Alyssa, I'll see you around real soon," he smiled handing me my body receipt.

"Yep, see ya," I trotted towards my yellow bug which now will be a constant reminder of the color of urine.

"Hey, Bomber, you might want to lay this down in your car before you get in it," Big Dog said handing me a blanket along with a canister of wet wipes and bottle of water from the back of the squad car.

"Thanks, Big Dog."

I grimaced and began wiping myself down as thoroughly as I could only causing myself to now smell like lemon scented urine. I laid the blanket down on the seat before sliding into the car and immediately put the top down. As much as I would love to go after my next skip, I realized I couldn't stand the smell of me any longer so a quick stop home was going to have to be my next destination.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Ok so I couldn't help myself. I was a girl with extreme tenacity who couldn't help but work with efficiency. Cluck in a Bucket on Harmon Street was on the way back to my apartment and I couldn't help but stroll by to see if the next skip, Bill Sizemore, was working.

His listed part-time occupation was Cluck in a Bucket's mascot, Cluckie. I did a slow roll by Cluck in the Bucket.

_Bingo!_

I pulled the car over and walked casually over to the big yellow chicken that looked like it was on steroids with bulging biceps holding a sign that read: Size does matter ‒ Especially when it's about the Bucket.

"Bill Sizemore?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"Great, I'm Alyssa Chau."

"What can I do for you, Baby? You came here for a little somethin' somethin'?" he flirted.

"Really? You're going to flirt with me while you're in a Chicken suit?"

"I tell you what, some ladies get turned on by the costume—" he abruptly stopped speaking. "—Whew! What's that smell?" the chicken took a step back and fanned himself with the sign.

"You work at a fried chicken joint and stand outside all day next to an alley filled with garbage and bums and you have a problem with the way I smell?" I shook my head in amazement.

"Well, Baby, I could forget the way you smell if you'd like to give me your number so I can give you a holla tonight."

"You're incredible," I shook my head in disdain.

"I've been told that on many occasions."

"Anyways, I'm a Bond Enforcement Agent and I've been sent here by your Bondsman Vinnie Plum. You missed your court date, and I'm here to—"

A flurry of yellow feathers pelted into me knocking me into a parked car setting off the alarm.

"Hey!" I shouted over the alarm after Sizemore over the car alarm. Shit! I didn't want to run after him. I was exhausted from chasing down the old peebag and with my stench reaching an all-time record from the unbearable humid summer heat, it was beginning to become unbearable. Besides, Sizemore was young nineteen year old buck. He was probably already half way to China. I would've never been able to catch up with him.

I stopped and looked down on the sidewalk and picked up a handful of flyers. Hey, I might as well reap the benefits for the day I was having. Those coupons are valuable to a gal on a budget. You can't beat a buy one get one free Cluck in a Bucket deal.

"_Babe, how are you going to chase down skips you can't keep up?" Ranger's voice popped in my head. _

"Fucking, Prick," I muttered. I hate it when he's right.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Previous Chapter:**__ "Babe, how are you going to chase down skips you can't keep up?" Ranger's voice popped in my head. _

"_Fucking, Prick," I muttered. I hate it when he's right._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 4<strong>

I wriggled out of my tank top, yanked off my shoes, socks and jean short.

"Good bye, shoes," I whimpered as I tossed my red chucks into the dumpster outside of my apartment. I really loved those shoes. There was no way I was going to trudge any of those nasty bacteria infested germs into my apartment.

I placed a bottle of water on the edge of the dumpster giving myself another wipe down with the lemon scented wipes Big Dog gave to me earlier. I carefully peeked around the big blue dumpster to make sure nobody was in the parking lot while plucking yellow feathers out of my hair.

"Babe."

I banged my knee against the dumpster, "Fuck!" I spun around and punched Ranger in the chest. "What the hell are you doing here? And stop fucking sneaking up on me!" I shouted rubbing my aching knee.

"Why are you naked?"

"None of your goddamned business! Can't a girl be goddamned naked outside without being goddamned questioned?"

"Babe."

"Whatever," I muttered and stepped away from the dumpster.

Ranger grabbed my wrist pulling me back into him. "Why do you smell like lemon scented…urine?"

"It's a new perfume I've been trying out," I replied sarcastically.

He dumped the bottle of water on my head.

I jumped, "What the fuck, Ranger!"

He threw me over his shoulders s and carried me into the building.

"Uh, Ranger, I can walk."

He ignored me and continued up the stairs. He pulled some tool out of his utility belt and let himself in.

"I have a key you know."

Still no response. He deposited me into the apartment and I headed towards the kitchen.

I stuck my head in the fridge and tossed him a bottle of water. The light was blinking on my answering machine. I hit the play button and dunked my head under the running water at the kitchen sink.

_Beep._

"_Cupcake, what's this I hear about you wrestling with a naked man in the middle of the street. I really wish you would consider getting a new job. Anyways, I can't wait to see you later tonight."_

I groaned holding my breath letting the cold water rain down on my head.

_Beep._

"_I have a date tonight with that hottie, I've been telling you about in Legal. Call you tonight with the deets! I expect the same from you if you're spending the night with Morelli. Although, I have expressed to you what a mistake that is, right? Hey you should think about that Ranger guy. He looks like a nice tall refreshing drink. I bet his package is something to be admired."_

I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks knowing that Ranger was standing only a few feet away.

_Beep._

_Silence._

"_Aaallyyysssaa…" the voice hissed breathing heavily. "I know it's been awhile since we last spoke but I've been busy training. But don't worry your little head, I've never stopped thinking of you. I hope you enjoyed your flowers I sent last month. I made sure they were the reddest roses. They remind me of the color of blood. I can only imagine how red your blood is. We'll be together soon. You better prepare yourself for The Champ. I can't wait to hear you scream my name," the voice chuckled sinisterly._

_Beep._

_Crap_. Maybe Ranger didn't hear any of that. Maybe he understood my privacy and that these messages were personal. Oh hell, who was I kidding? This man breaks into my apartment and manhandles me every chance he gets. Ranger didn't care about my privacy. The water suddenly shut off and I was spun around and found myself staring into a very solid black wall of perfectly sculpted pecs.

"Explain," Ranger said tilting my head up so that our eyes could meet.

Water was trailing down my body pooling around me on the floor. I shrugged my shoulders and tried stepping away.

Ranger tightened his grip around my arms and shot me a piercing look as if to say, _"Don't you dare avoid my question."_

I closed the gap between us and ran my finger down his chest. "There's nothing to tell, Ranger," I tried distracting him by attempting to be somewhat seductive. I don't think it was working because I could feel the lasers beaming out of his eyes boring into the top of my head as I stared into his chest.

"Babe," he said firmly.

I sighed loudly, "Eh, no big deal. I might've pissed off Benito Ramirez while I was looking for information on Wesley Stratton last month. I got a tip that Ramirez and Stratton were good friends so I took a trip to his gym on Stark to ask some questions."

"You went to Stark Street alone?" he asked with concern.

Hmmm…this was different. I've always thought that Ranger cared about my safety, but I've never actually heard concern in his voice before.

"I wasn't alone. Mooner was with me."

Walter "the Moon Man" Dunphey aka "Mooner" was a stoner whom I bummed a ride off of after I childishly stalked away from Joe after my car was blown up. It was an incredibly stupid move on my behalf but it turned out that Mooner ended up being a huge help. I needed a ride and he happened to be in my line of fire. He didn't have much going on upstairs in that head of his but he turned out to be a loyal puppy dog-like friend.

"Anyways, Ramirez offered me a personal massage, and I turned him down. And apparently, _The Champ_, doesn't take rejection very well. So he got a little rough that's when Mooner charged in and shot him with a T-Shirt rocket."

Ranger raised an eyebrow.

I grabbed the bottle of water out of his hands and took a sip trying to act casual like it was no big deal but ended up inhaling it the wrong way and began choking. I never was one to pull off "cool" very well.

"Is this his first contact?" he rubbed the back of my neck sending an electrical jolt down my back to my doodah. Ranger radiated a natural heat from his body that rendered me useless with every physical contact me made with my body turning me into a pool of mush.

"He sent me flowers the morning after the Pinky incident," I coughed shifting my feet.

Suddenly I was very aware of the fact that I was standing very close to Ranger in only my very plain white cotton bra and panties. I couldn't feel any less sexy during this moment. The A/C blowing on my cold wet skin caused goose bumps to spread through my entire body. An involuntary shiver coursed through my body. I stepped away from him turned to move out of the kitchen when I lost my footing and slipped in the puddle of water that was pooling around my feet.

Ranger swiftly caught me by my arm before my ass hit the ground and slid his free arm under my legs and swung me up and placed me on the counter. "Ramirez is bad news, Babe," he stated. "He's a known serial rapist and mutilator."

I frowned and turned to face Ranger, "Then why isn't he in jail then?"

"Not enough evidence, a lot of money and connections. Have you told Morelli?"

"_Psh_, no," I waved my hand at him. "It's no big deal so you don't need to worry about it. He's just trying to get a rise out of me. Besides it's been a month since the incident. He'll get bored of me soon."

"Let me know when he contacts you again," he commanded.

"Fine, whatever."

"Babe, where's your gun?"

I scrunched my nose, "In a safe place."

He leaned in and kissed the tip of my nose, brushing my lips softly while skimming his hands down the side of my torso landing on my hips. "A cookie jar is not a safe place. Start carrying the gun with you."

"Fine," I replied impatiently.

"This would be very sexy if you didn't smell like a urinal."

I blushed, "Yeah. Yeah. I can never be one of those perfect girls who smells like fresh cut roses at all time."

I leaned into his chest and inhaled, "How is it that you carried me up here without a single hint of urine on you and still manage to smell so delicious."

"Delicious?" he smiled lowering his mouth down on mine.

"Mmm…hmmm," I moaned instinctively wrapping my legs around his torso. Tangling his fingers into my hair the soft kisses grew hungrily as Ranger slipped his tongue into my mouth.

"Ranger?"

"Babe," he responded kissing my neck slipping my bra strap off.

"Is there a reason why you're here," I breathed heavily.

"I came to ask for your help," trailing kisses towards the top of my breasts.

_Help?_ Ranger's asking for _my_ help? This has got to be good! I pushed him away. "I'll do it!" I replied enthusiastically lifting my butt off of the counter anchoring my body onto his and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Babe, you don't even know what it is yet."

"It's not every day that Batman asks for help. What, when and where?" Besides this was my way of repaying him for all the times he's helped me out in a bind. It's my turn to come to the rescue!

Ranger flashed a gorgeous 200-watt smile. A smile he wore so brilliantly but rarely seemed to show. "We need someone to help us lure a skip out of a bar quietly."

"Like a distraction?"

"Yes. I'll pay you."

"No need," I raised up my hand and shook my head. "I'm happy to help. Where and when?"

"Friday night at nine, Tank will come by and pick you up at eight."

"Oh so, Batman, won't be coming to get me himself? That's a shame. Because to lure a man out of a bar calls for something very slinky and very short," I teased kissing his jawline.

"Babe, you're playing with fire," he growled.

"Can't handle the heat, Batman?" I nibbled his earl

Ranger dropped me down on the counter and attacked my face with kisses.

"Ranger!" I cried out giggling trying to squirm away from him.

He raised his head and fixed his eyes on mine, "You shouldn't start something you don't intend to finish, Babe."

"You're incredible, Ranger," I smiled pushing him up off of me as I sat up. "I smell like urine and yet you're letting me rub myself all over you," I laughed out loud.

I leaned over and took another whiff of his chest and scrunched my nose, "What the fuck, Ranger. You still smell perfect. What do you have the super power of smelling good or something? Or perhaps you have an invisible shield that repels foreign smells and objects from you."

I grabbed his shirt and pulled him into me and wrapped my legs around his torso and rubbed up on him and took another whiff. "Ugh," I muttered in disgust shoved him away again.

"Babe."

"Whatever, Ranger. I'll see you tomorrow night. In the meantime, my shower is calling my name," I waved him off hopping off of the counter.

"I could help with that."

I rolled my eyes and was suddenly lifted off my feet and deposited into the shower. Cold water rained down on me.

"Ranger!" I squelched.

"_Morning_, Babe," Ranger corrected me reminding me of our training date at the crack of dawn.

I opened my mouth to protest but he was suddenly nowhere to be seen and somehow my bra was magically lying on the ground.


	5. Chapter 5

**_A/N: _**_Ok, so you may not like this chapter because there's a lot of Joe. But I appreciate you bearing with me. =) Pretty please. I promise there's Ranger yumminess in the next 2 chapters._

_**Previous Chapter:**__ I rolled my eyes and was suddenly lifted off my feet and deposited into the shower. Cold water rained down on me. _

"_Ranger!" I squelched. _

"_Morning, Babe," Ranger corrected me reminding me of our training date at the crack of dawn._

_I opened my mouth to protest but he was suddenly nowhere to be seen and somehow my bra was magically lying on the ground._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 5<strong>

I let out a loud sigh at the sight of my bare cupboards. My typical stock of peanut butter and Kraft macaroni and cheese did not make my stomach jump up for joy. I shut the cupboard and banged my head against the door staring at my growling stomach.

After two hours of filing at the Bond's Office with Connie, I was famished for something fatty and delicious. A peanut butter sandwich just wasn't going to cut it today.

As if right on cue, a loud knock came from the door. I trudged over to the door and swung it open. I stood face-to-face with a tight-jeaned Joe Morelli leaning against the door jam. Just seeing him off the street you would think he was a movie star with his handsome chiseled features.

"You don't have any food," I responded dryly turning to slam the door in his face.

"Cupcake," he smiled stopping the door effortlessly. He dipped down and gave me a hard kiss on the mouth. All in one swoop he had skillfully kicked the door shut while slipping his hands under my shirt miraculously making my bra appear on the floor and with a blink of an eye was pressed up against me on the bed. Joe Morelli made sex seem absolutely uncomplicated, so easy as if it was just a game.

"Uh uh, Buster, I don't think so," I said firmly shoving him off of me.

"Cupcake," he teased pushing me back down on the bed.

I was suddenly shirtless with Joe taking my nipple in his mouth. This man should have a magic show in Vegas with the way he was able to make clothes just disappear with a wave of his magic wand. He bit down hard on my nipple sending a shooting sensation through my body.

"Joe!" I slapped him.

He kissed up my chest lightly biting my shoulder. "Cupcake, I've missed you all day."

"Well, I haven't missed you. In fact, I told you I didn't want to see you. Would you cut it out?" I tried shoving him away again. "Besides, I'm still pissed at you."

"I know, and I'm sorry for the way I reacted over the phone. I'll make it up to you. I came to take you to dinner," he said placing soft kisses up my neck.

"Well, I hope this dinner involves food because I can't get full off of kisses," I replied flatly.

"Ok," Joe stood up surrendering, "let's get you quickly fed because I need to satisfy my hunger as well."

I threw a pillow at him, "You're an ass."

He flashed me a sexy smile, "Yeah but you like my ass."

I crawled over to the edge of the bed and threw my arms around him and gave him a kiss, "You're right about that, but I'll like it more when there's food in my belly."

"Yeah yeah," he gave me a quick peck on the cheek. "We could get going if you would get dressed already," he eyed my chest.

I shoved him away retrieving my articles of clothing from the floor.

He grabbed my bra and tossed it onto the bed, "I think you should leave that one at home."

I smacked him on the arm and fastened the clasp into place.

"I think it's high time you got rid of that thing. I'm pretty sure it's dead," he said pointing at the shriveled up creature on the window sill.

"He's not dead! He's a little dehydrated but he's a survivor," I replied defensively lifting a wilted brown limb. I poured some water into the pot of my pathetic house plant that I affectionately called Monster.

The woman at the nursery told me that it was virtually impossible to kill this kind of house plant because of the little care it needed to survive. Once again, I was able to defy the odds by proving that I have the ability to destroy just about anything that came within my path.

"Where are we going?" I grabbed Joe by the arm and lead him to the door.

"Pinos."

"Great choice," I grinned.

Pino's was a little Italian eatery a couple of blocks from my apartment complex. They're known for having the best pizza and meatball subs in the Burg and a popular cop hangout spot. We both had a meatball sub and a couple of cannoli for dessert. I have to admit that being with Joe was easy and I could see myself getting comfortable with him very quickly. He was laid back, incredibly sexy, and we had similar eating habits.

Talking with Joe was like talking to an old friend who I could affectionately tease and laugh with no reservations. He wasn't overbearing and he tended to keep a comfortable distance in public as to not draw inappropriate attention from people who could be his fellow colleagues.

After finishing the last bite of my cannoli, my phone rang. "Hello?"

"Alyssa," a loud wail came from the other end of the receiver.

"Mis…what's wrong?" I replied in concern.

"H-hair. I…p-parking…c-car," sniffle. "G-gone!" she hiccupped.

"Misty, take a deep breath and calm down. I can't understand a word you're saying. What's wrong and where are you?"

"I-I was attacked in the g-garage at work," she sniffled.

"Oh my, God!"

"P-please, I-I need you," she sobbed wildly.

"Ok, go back into your office and stay there. I'm coming over right now. Sit tight."

_Click._

You know if this was someone else, I would've thought something happened to Misty when she hung up the phone without replying with a simple "ok" or "good-bye," but the fact that she was my best friend and I knew that she never said good-bye was normal it didn't worry me as much.

Joe gave me a puzzled look.

"Misty was attacked at work. We need to go."

He nodded and tossed some money on the table and followed me out the door to his truck.

Misty and I once worked together as Lingerie Buyers at _E.E. Martin_ before I was laid off after they were bought out by a much larger organization. Misty was a phenomenal negotiator with extensive experience making her the obvious choice to transfer to the new organization.

Within the six months of her new transfer, she's been promoted to Director. It seems the change has proven to be a positive one for her. As for me, the jury's still out on whether me new career path as a Bounty Hunter has been established as a positive move for me.

_Baldicott, Inc._ was located downtown about twenty minutes on the outskirts of the Burg. Along the way we passed several shopping centers that were being uprooted due to the Pinky murders.

It turned out Pinky had been burying his female victims was several of _Stratton Construction's_ commercial shopping centers for years. He had meticulously documented each of his victims in a little black notebook with their names and a code. The code was a part of the Stratton Construction filing system for each building site location. And to put the icing on the cake, Pinky kept souvenirs of the victims by cutting off their pinky fingers and keeping them in a little wooden box hidden in the window A/C unit in the office trailers that he worked out of.

So all over Trenton, shopping centers were being dug up to unearth the missing women's remains. It was a depressing sight for shopaholics all over town but at least the families of the victims could now have some peace of mind.

I let out a little whimper as we passed _Greenwood Shopping Plaza_ seeing the _Closed During Construction_ sign hanging in front of _Beso Shoes_. My mind wandered to my beloved red converses now lying at the bottom of its cold blue metal coffin.

"There's more to life than shoes," Joe said breaking my train of thought.

My jaw dropped and I gave him a horrified look, "What a sacrilegious thing to say! We better make sure to stop by a church later to make sure we cleanse your soul," I teased.

He laid his hand on my thigh and gave it a light squeeze. These were the moments that I cherished with Joe. Where I mentioned before how comfortable and easy it was to be with Joe, this was exactly what I meant. I could let my guard down and just not care.

I threw Joe's arm around me and nuzzled into his side wrapping my arm around his waist. I have to say after three years of no sexual contact, being with Joe really made me realize how much I missed the warmth of being wrapped in a pair of strong arms.

"I like this," I murmured softly pressing my nose into his chest and inhaling his musty scent.

"So do I, Cupcake," Joe replied dropping a kiss on the top of my head.

"Thanks for going with me, I really appreciate it."

"Well, if what you say is true about Misty being attacked, it's probably best that I come with you. If it's serious, I could assess the scene and file the police report."

I scrunched my nose. And there it was, the perfect way to kill the mood. Joe was like a Sour Patch Kid ‒ he can be sweet and sour at the same time. There was no, _"Cupcake, she's your friend. I am more than happy to help you out."_ Or, _"Cupcake, I would use any excuse to spend more time with you."_ No, it had to be the arrogant cop answer, _"This could be a police matter."_

"Cupcake, you know I would do anything for you."

And there it was right on cue — the sweet.

"I know," I laid a kiss on his jawline.

He pulled up in front of the building in the _No Parking Zone_ and placed his kojak light on the roof of the car. Being a cop had its perks — you never had to worry about parking.

We stepped up to the door and I punched the button door code on the intercom to call up to Misty's Office.

"H-hello," a voice cracked.

"It's me."

_Buzz._

Joe held the door open for me and we rode the elevator up to the twelfth floor. A loud sobbing sound came from the distance as the elevator doors parted. I stepped out of the elevator and led the way down the hall to Misty's office.

Her office was beautifully furnished with modern cherry red wood furniture that had a great view. We found her sprawled out sobbing on her white leather couch that looked more for show than something your butt would enjoy sitting on.

The second Misty realized I was there she was on her feet with her arms draped around me. She was wearing a pair of large Gucci sunglasses, a red Calvin Klein sheath dress with a black belt, and a red leopard print chiffon scarf tied around her head. Her black four-inch Via Spiga pumps made her look even leggier than she already was.

Misty was a stunningly beautiful slender blond, blue-eyed buxom beauty with curves in all the right places. Everywhere she went, men took their time to stop and admire her. Even as a sobbing mess, Misty still managed to look absolutely perfect, unlike me. When I cried, it looked a big mac truck ran over me — not once but twice.

"Mis, tell me what happened," I motioned for her to sit back down on the couch. I sat down next to her clasping her hand.

"I-I was just leaving the office and I stepped out into the garage when someone grabbed me and yanked me back into the stairwell and held something up against my mouth. I don't remember what happened after that but I-I woke up lying on the floor in the stairs and…and…" she began wailing loudly.

"Misty, and what?" I pressed her to continue.

"And this!" she shrieked yanking the scarf off her head.

My jaw dropped open, "Oh, Misty…"

Misty's beautiful long wavy blond hair was chopped off messily just above her shoulder.

"Let me get this straight, someone attacked you in the stairwell and gave you a bad haircut?" Joe spoke up behind me.

"Yes…" she continued crying softly.

"Well, this is obviously just a hate crime. Do you have any enemies who could do this to you? Were there any witnesses?" Joe asked in full cop-mode.

"Misty, doesn't have an enemy in the world," I protested.

Misty shook her head, "Nobody comes to mind."

"Ex-boyfriend, maybe?"

"No, I go into every relationship/fling honestly and upfront right from the start. Besides, if it was a hate crime, wouldn't the person want me to hear them out or shout some sort of obscenities at me?" Misty replied rationally. That was Misty for you, she may be melodramatic at times but a dumb blond she definitely was not.

"Show me the stairwell."

She nodded and headed out the door towards the stairwell that led to the garage. She pointed to the corner where she woke up a couple of strands of her hair were lying on the ground.

Joe looked around the on the ceilings and the walls in search for evidence, "I don't see any cameras."

"There aren't any. The building is secured. You need a key fob to get in or you need to be buzzed in. There's never been a reason or need for any additional security. I mean there's nothing worth stealing at a lingerie company. We don't keep merchandise here."

"Misty, I hate to say this, but I don't see anything that could help us capture the culprit. It's a long stab in the dark. I'll file a police report for you, but I can't make any guarantees."

"I understand. It's just hair, right?" she whimpered. "It'll grow back," she choked back as tears pooled around her eyes.

"Come on, Misty," I steered her out to the garage towards her car. "Give me your keys. We're going to take a trip to the _Miracle Worker_."

"He'll be booked up. There's no way that I'll be able to get in at the last minute."

"We'll make him fit you in. Don't you worry about it. Go get in the car and I'll be there in a minute."

Misty disappeared through the doors that led to the garage

I threw my arms around Joe and planted a kiss on the lips.

"I'm not going to get the pleasure of getting any dessert tonight am I?" he sighed.

"I'm afraid not. But you know what?" I nipped at his bottom lip lightly with my teeth.

"What's that?" he breathed into my mouth.

"You coming all the way out here to help my friend really turns me on," I teased pressing my lips hard onto his mouth.

"Mmm…you're killing me."

"Tomorrow night. I'll provide the dessert."

He tangled his fingers in my hair, "Promise?"

"Mmm…hmmm," I breathed heavily slipping my hands into the back pockets of his jeans pushing him harder up against me. "You can hold me to it," I promised before pulling away from the kiss.

"You make me crazy," he growled frustrated. "Tell, Misty, I'll do what I can and you girls stay out of trouble tonight."

"Now _that_, I can't promise," I smiled and making sure to swing my hips back and forth just to give him something to miss tonight.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Previous Chapter: **__"You make me crazy, Cupcake," he growled frustrated. "Tell, Misty, I'll do what I can and you girls stay out of trouble tonight."_

_ "Now that, I can't promise," I smiled and making sure to swing my hips back and forth just to give him something to miss tonight._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 6<strong>

On the way to _Westville Mall_, I made a call to Mr. Alexander at the hair salon and begged him to work in Misty for an emergency haircut. After several minutes of begging and pleading, he realized that I wasn't going to let up so he agreed to squeeze her in if I got there within the next fifteen minutes.

Being that we were about twenty minutes from the mall, I had to do some creative driving. I wove through traffic like an asshole but loved every second of it as the screaming power from Misty's Miata coursed through my veins. It was definitely a smoother more powerful ride than my little bug. The car responded to my every movement and every curve of the road.

Within exactly thirteen minutes, we were jogging into the hair salon located inside Nordstrom.

A wiry short Italian man with mature graying hair showed up dressed pristinely in gray dress slacks, a matching gray vest and white button down fashioned with a lavender tie popped out from the back room.

"Miss Chau, you know that I am a very busy man. This better be an extreme emergency to come barging in at this—" he said dramatically gesturing his arms in a very Italian-like manner.

"—Mr. Alexander, I assure you this is a true emergency that only you, _The Miracle Worker_, are able to help with. And I do understand the great lengths that you're going through to work us in. We truly appreciate it," I replied casually stroking his ego.

Seemingly satisfied by my praise, he gestured to Misty's scarf, "Let us see."

Misty complied slipping the scarf off slowly.

Mr. Alexander's mouth formed into around circle, "Oh no, dear. Come, come, this needs to be fixed right away," he carefully ushered Misty like a wounded gazelle to the back through a curtained room.

About an hour and a half and seven _Cosmo_ quizzes on _"What Kind of Lover Are You?"_ later, Misty emerged from behind the curtains sporting a new shorter hairdo.

"Oh my God, Misty, you look remarkable!" I awed.

And she really did. Misty exuded confidence before but now with the shorter messy layered curls she looked fierce and spunky.

She flashed me a wide grin, "I never ever thought about going short before, I think I could actually get used to it. It's less hair to manage that's for sure!"

"Mr. Alexander you truly are a miracle worker."

"Thank you my dear. Now when are you going to make an appointment so that I can get my hands on your beautiful thick sleek black hair? Your split ends are becoming atrocious!"

"Soon, Mr. Alexander. I promise." _Yeah, when I'm able to scrounge up some money. _

"I understand that Miss Plum was a victim of an attack hair massacre. I suggest to you, Miss Chau that you watch out as well. There are people who would go to great lengths to get their hands on your beautiful jet black virgin hair."

"Virgin hair?"

"Yes, hair that has been untouched by chemicals such as dyes or perms."

"Is this something that is common? I've never heard or it."

"Sweetheart, there's a big market for real human hair extensions. And Miss Plum has been my fourth victim this week."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Miss Chau, I never kid. Hair extensions come at a high price. Synthetic hair can run a couple hundred dollars whereas human hair extensions can run you a couple thousand dollars. The import of human hair from China has grown into a multi-million dollar industry. Not many people know of it because it's only recognized within a specific community. The demand on human hair has been growing as women want longer sexier locks so naturally a black market for human hair has opened up. And you, my dear, would be a prime target."

"Wow. That's amazing. Who knew there was a black market for just about anything? Well, thank you for everything Mr. Alexander and for enlightening us. I'll be in touch soon!"

He gave us a polite head nod goodbye. Misty hooked her arm onto mine, "Tonight we're getting messy drunk."

"Uh…I don't think that's such a good idea. It's a weeknight."

"We'll stay home watch sappy movies, eat lots of junk food, and drink till we pass out. Come on when's the last time we had a girls' night out?"

"Well, when you put it that way…I like the eating junk food part."

"I knew you would," Misty teased.

"Ok, fine. I'm game. Your place or mine?"

"Yours, it's closer and I need a drink now!"

_**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**_

My head was pounding. A distinct smell filled my nostrils and I could feel the presence of someone hovering over me.

"Go away," I groaned.

"Babe, it's six."

"Argh!" I growled. I completely forgot that Ranger said he was coming over in the morning for a run. I knew drinking last night with Misty was a bad idea.

I forced my eyes open focusing in on a pair of legs. "What the fuck? Why are you standing upside down?" I rasped .

"Babe," was the only response I got from him.

Realizing that I wasn't lying in my bed, instead, I was sprawled upside down on my couch. Startled, I twitched losing my balance and clumsily began tumbling to the ground. Ranger managed to catch me somehow and sit me upright on the couch.

"God, my head hurts," I whined running my hands through my hair. A spilt bowl of popcorn was on the floor, an empty bottle of vodka on the coffee table and the television was repeating the DVD menu for the movie _Newsies_. I vaguely remember coming home to watch the musical with Misty the evening before.

"Oh good your up," Misty said cheerily stepping out of the bathroom. "I'm going to head home and freshen up for work. Thanks for a fun night. I really needed it. And it looks like you need me to get out of your hair anyways. Ranger," she greeted Ranger eyeing him appreciatively.

Ranger gave her a polite head nod.

"How the hell are you so chipper at six in the morning and why do you not look the way I feel?"

"I've always been a morning person, you know that. You know the early bird always catches the worm! Besides, sweetie, we didn't drink that much last night and most of the junk food ended up in your hair and on the floor."

I picked a popcorn kernel out of my hair, "If we didn't drink that much then why is my head pounding?"

"Because sweetie, you're the _one-sip wonder_."

I scrunched my nose at the nickname I picked up from college that seems to have followed me. Why can't I seem to adopt any flattering nicknames?

"You took one shot and instantly flushed an awful color red and began singing and dancing to the every single song in the movie even when there was no music and muttering how you'd like to go downtown with Brooklyn*," she giggled and gave me a peck on the cheek. "Sweetie, you really know how to show a girl a good time. Thanks again for everything but I have to run."

With that she was out the door.

I looked up at Ranger, "I can't run, Ranger. I'll die. Correction — I'll throw up and then I'll die. Isn't there any other exercising, training or whatever bullshit you want to call it that we could do besides running."

"There is another cardio workout that comes to mind."

"What's that?"

I was whisked off my feet and quickly tossed on the bed with Ranger on top of me.

He traced his fingers along my jawline, kissing my ear lightly, and whispered in his deep seductive baritone voice, "Would you like to give this workout a try?"

"Mmm, Ranger…" I moaned as a tingling sensation shivered through my body. "Stop it…" I breathed.

"Then get ready to run. We're already behind schedule," he quickly pulled me to a sitting position. "Get dressed, Babe."

"Prick," I muttered.

I heaved on a pair of short purple mesh training shorts, a gray sports bra and purple new balances. Pulling my hair into a ponytail, I tucked it through a black baseball cap and fashioned a pair of sunglasses over my dark-circled eyes.

"Let's get this over with," I walked past Ranger and headed towards the door.

He grabbed my wrist spinning me around and pressing me up against the door brushing his lips along my neck, "There's still time to switch to the alternative."

I melted into his arms, "Mmm…tempting but I have a feeling the alternative with Batman would require much more exertion than running."

His fingers slowly traced the outline of my nipples above my sports bra causing them to stand at attention, "There's only one way to find out, Babe."

A shiver shuddered through my body as I sucked in a deep breath and gave him a hard shove, "Is sex the only thing that men ever think about? Sheesh," I said exasperated trying to act like I was in control of my raging hormones.

_**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**_

We did a slow jog for about ten minutes which felt like hours of my life. I stopped to throw up in the trashcan.

"Stay hydrated," Ranger said jogging in place beside me.

_"Stay hydrated,"_ I mimicked in my head.

"Babe," he said sternly.

_Shit!_ Did I mock Ranger out loud?

"Why don't you go ahead of me? I would hate to hold you back from your workout. I'll catch up."

He quirked an eyebrow at me.

"Go!" I shouted at him.

"Ok, Babe. Around the park and meet back here."

I nodded in agreement and waved him away. I watched his nicely toned ass jog away from me. Damn that man had a fine ass. I shook myself back to reality and began _jogging_ back towards my apartment. Sliding into my little yellow bug, I put the top down and headed towards the _Tasty Pastry_. I told Ranger, I'd catch up with him but I never said how.

* * *

><p><em>*Brooklyn aka Spot Conlon (my favorite character in the Newsies musical)<em>


	7. Chapter 7

_**Previous Chapter: **__"Go!" I shouted at him. _

_ "Ok, Babe. Around the park and meet back here."_

_ I nodded in agreement and waved him away. I watched his nicely toned ass jog away from me. Damn that man had a fine ass. I shook myself back to reality and began jogging back towards my apartment. Sliding into my little yellow bug, I put the top down and headed towards the Tasty Pastry. I told Ranger, I'd catch up with him but I never said how._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 8<strong>

"Oh sorry," I apologized stepping out of the _Tasty Pastry_ as I bumped into the person coming through the door.

My stomach was rumbling and my mind was focused on what was in the little white paper bag in my hands. I immediately pulled out a Boston Crème and shoveled it into my mouth as I leaned up against the glass window outside of the _Tasty Pastry_. The door flew open and a guy dashed out into the street into the ally way across the way.

I watched him as he pulled off a blue devil mask wiping the sweat off his face. He glanced up in my direction. I dropped my focus back into my bag pulling out my second donut hoping he didn't notice me gawking at him. I looked back up as he sped off down the street on a dirt bike. The door flew open simultaneously as the blue devil took off. Francesco Rossellini ran out of the store waving his arms in the air and yelling some angry Italian phrases along with some not-so Italian obscenities at the blue devil with a lit bottle in his hand.

He threw the bottle in the direction of my yellow bug. The bottle landed inside the car followed by a loud boom and it went up in flames. I was knocked backwards slamming against the glass window.

My jaw dropped to the ground. "Y-you blew up my car!" I screeched at the top of my lungs.

Mr. Rossellini's face blanched, "I-I'm sorry, dear. I didn't mean to hit your car."

Mr. Rossellini is the owner of the _Tasty Pastry_ which was the dessert mecca of the Burg. I slouched back against the window putting my weight against the glass sat on the edge of the cement wall that protruded out slightly under the window. I closed my eyes trying to push the ringing out of my ears.

"Babe," Ranger's voice startled me.

"How the hell did you know I was here?" I squinted at him standing beside me.

"I saw the smoke from the explosion."

"That little punk threw the bottle behind my counter because I refused to pay some kind of protection fee and he lit the bottle and threw it over the counter. But it didn't do anything, so I came out here to throw it in the street," Mr. Rossellini explained to Ranger. "I'm very sorry, Miss. I had no intentions of blowing up your car."

I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, "It's ok. It's not your fault. This kind of thing happens. Just tell me when this is all over," I replied in defeat hearing the sirens approaching in the distance.

"I knew this had your name written all over it!" an obnoxious voice shouted as a car door slammed.

"It wasn't my fault, Carl," I replied blandly with and waved my hand, "Go talk to Mr. Rossellini."

I could hear him chuckling as he approached Mr. Rossellini.

"Cupcake!" an angry voice bellowed.

"Fuck," I muttered under my breath.

"What the hell happened here?" I could feel Joe's shadow hovering in front of me.

Great, I was now sandwiched between two pairs of questioning eyes.

"I don't know, _Officer_ Morelli. Are you asking as a representative of the law or are you asking as a friend?" I smirked lifting my head slightly to peek at him.

"Cupcake, I really wish you'd find a new job. I could ask around to see if there's a nice office job available for you."

"Fuck you, Joe. That bomb wasn't even meant for me. I was just an innocent passerby. And shut up about my job. This had nothing to do with my job."

"There's nothing innocent about this. Trouble just seems to follow you around," he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Look, Carl's talking to Mr. Rossellini over there to get the whole story. But I'll give you a quick rundown—"

"—No, not quick. Start from the very beginning, up until you leaving the apartment this morning."

"Fine," I sneered. "Ranger came and picked me up at my apartment this morning."

Morelli clenched his fist, "What business did you have with Ranger at six in the morning? I can barely get you to wake up for breakfast at eight let alone six."

I rolled my eyes and continued, "If you didn't interrupt me, I'd tell you why he was there! Ranger's been helping me train so he came to pick me up for a run. We ran a bit and I had to stop to throw up."

"If you're sick, why are you out running?" Morelli asked.

"I'm not sick. I was just a little hung over from drinking with Misty last night. Stop interrupting me or I'll stop talking," I said firmly.

"Fine," he threw up his hands and placed them on his hips.

"As I was saying," I continued impatiently, "I stopped to throw up. I told Ranger to go ahead of me and that I would catch up. Once he was out of sight, I headed back to my apartment, hopped in my car and somehow ended up at the _Tasty Pastry_."

Joe snickered at the part about me outwitting Ranger.

"I don't know how it happened but it was like my stomach was controlling my brain. But I figured since I ended up at the _Tasty Pastry_, I might as well get some breakfast and afterwards I'd return to the park and work up a sweat running back to our meeting point," I blushed knowingly at the sound of my laziness being admitted verbally in front of Ranger.

"I got my donuts and stood right here and ate them. Some kid with a blue devil mask ran out of the store and took off on a dirt bike parked in the ally over there," I pointed across the street. "And then Mr. Rossellini ran out shouting some colorful words and threw a bottle at my car and boom! My car was toast."

"Fuck, blue devil, you say?" Morelli cursed under his breath.

"Yeah, I thought it was kind of weird being that it's so hot. Who could stand the heat?"

"There's been a number of crimes at small local business around the area being done by a guy in a blue devil mask. It's too bad we can't identify him."

"That, I can do."

Joe looked at me incredulously, "You saw him?"

"Yeah, like I said it was hot. He took off the mask to wipe off the sweat on his face. He's just a teenager."

"If we show you some photos down at the precinct, do you think you could identify him?"

I shrugged, "I suppose I could."

Joe ran his hand down his face, "Why me? Most guys I know date girls who don't have their cars blown up twice within a month."

"Why you?" the volume of my voice began to increase. "I'm _so_ sorry this happened to _you_, Joe. Nobody told you, you had to date me! I certainly didn't ask to date you!" I stood up and stepped towards Joe.

His eyes widened in shock.

"Go find a normal girl to date, but like I said, this had nothing to do with me or my job. I'm not changing jobs anytime soon so you better get used to it or don't bother to come around anymore."

"Cupcake," Joe said slowly.

"What?" I shouted angrily.

"Your head—"

"—What about my head?" I cut him off reaching my hand around to the back of my head.

It was a little sore but that's normal, an explosion threw me into a glass wall.

"It's bleeding," Joe motioned for a paramedic to come over.

I looked at my hand covered in blood, "Shit, what do you know. I _am_ bleeding." I turned around and noticed a glass window had a large starburst crack with traces of blood in it where my head obviously hit.

I turned back to Joe, "Whatever, it's just blood. I told you all that I know. I'm going home now." I took a step away and I got hit with a dizzy spell and fell into Ranger.

"I don't think so, Cupcake. You have a head injury. You're not going anywhere except to the hospital."

"No!" I panicked standing upright. "No, hospitals! I said I'm fine. I'm going home now."

"It's not a request, Alyssa. It's a requirement. I would escort you myself but I have to finish assessing the crime scene."

"It's ok, because I'm not going anywhere but home, and I can escort myself there," I said stubbornly.

"I'll make sure she gets to the hospital and back home safely," Ranger spoke up.

I glared at Ranger. I thought he was my friend! Instead he's a traitor siding with Morelli.

Morelli hesitated at the thought of me spending more time with Ranger but decided against protesting and gave him a single nod of approval. "Watch out for this one. She's a hellion," he pointed at me.

"Hey, Joe, don't bother coming over tonight. I just remembered I have other plans," I said coldly to him as he walked away.

He shook his head and kept walking towards Carl and Mr. Rossellini. The paramedic walked over trying to place a neck brace on me as I swatted him away, "Quit it! My neck is obviously not broken."

"Ma'am, you may have sustained a serious injury from the explosion we need to make sure that you're secured before heading to the emergency room."

"I'm not going to the hospital. I'm going home, so bug off."

I began to walk off but was held still with a single grip around my wrist from Ranger. He wrapped his massive arm around my torso and carried me to the ambulance like a football.

"You're an asshole," I gritted my teeth as he deposited me into the ambulance.

"Babe, I'll be right here with you."

Ranger carried me over the threshold of my apartment.

"I have a head injury, Ranger. I didn't break my legs."

He ignored me placing me on the couch.

I jumped back up and walked to the kitchen to prove that I was perfectly fine. Although I think I should've stood up a little more slowly because I felt a little dizzy from standing up too fast so I ended up throwing up in the sink.

The red light was blinking angrily at me so I hit the little gray button as I rinsed my mouth and shoved a mint in my mouth.

_Beep._

"_So I heard from my Cousin Shirley who heard from her husband, Eddie, that your car blew up again today. Seeing that you didn't call me, I'm supposing that you're ok," Misty said sarcastically. "From now on when I hear something's happened to you, I'm just not going to worry because I'm going to assume that you'll call me, your best friend, if you're dead or something more serious."_

_Beep._

"_Cupcake, I'm sorry."_

_Beep._

There was nothing but heavy breathing for about thirty seconds.

"_Alyssa ,I can't wait to wrap my hands around you," the sinister voice chuckled. "You should be more careful. I would hate for something to happen to you before I can enjoy you."_

_Beep._

"_Alyssa, it's Connie. Thanks for helping with all of the filing again yesterday. I heard about what happened this morning. Don't worry about coming in today, there's nothing urgent that can't wait for tomorrow. Take care of yourself."_

_Beep._

I stared at the machine in disbelief.

"Where's your gun?" a deep voice startled me out of my trance.

"In my purse," I replied unsure.

Ranger turned me around and gave me a blank look that only he could give that emitted so many different meanings. This look was the look that accused me of lying.

"Fine, it's tucked away safely in the cookie jar. See?" I grabbed it out of the cookie jar and sniffed it, "Mmm…and smells delicious. Want a whiff?" I held the gun up to his face and chomped down on a cookie from the batch Suzie made for me the other day. I finished the cookie fighting back tears.

"Babe, you actually have cookies in that jar too?"

"There's not _always_ cookies in there. Most times it's empty but Suzie made cookies for me and I didn't have anywhere else to put them," I sniffed.

"Carry your gun at all times. And make sure it's loaded," he instructed.

"Fine," I grumbled placing it back in the cookie jar wiping away my tears.

He raised an eyebrow.

"What? I don't need to carry it around my own apartment do I? Do I need it for protection against you?" I replied annoyed.

He set his keys down on the counter, "It's yours until you can get a new one."

I stared down at the Porsche key fob sitting on my old out-dated kitchen counter. "No, I can't drive your car. You saw what happened to my last two cars. I send cars to their untimely deaths."

"You need transportation, so I'm providing it."

"I can't, Ranger." It was very tempting but I wouldn't even know where to begin to repay Ranger if something were to happen to it. That car is probably worth more than my own life.

"You've done enough for me already, Ranger. I haven't even begun to repay you for what you've done for me already."

"I'll just add it to your tab," the corner of his mouth curled slightly — Ranger's version of a smile. He slipped his hand behind my neck and guided me back to the couch and sat down next to me. "Babe, you need to sit down and relax now. Doctor says you have a mild concussion. You shouldn't do anything too strenuous and you may experience some behavioral changes. Although I think your temper may be normal."

I punched him in the arm which I'm pretty sure hurt me more than it hurt him. "You can go home. I'll be fine," I leaned my head back and closed my eyes.

"I'm staying. Doctor says you need to be monitored for a few hours and it's not a good idea for you to sleep just yet."

I let out a loud exasperating sigh, "Then what are we going to do?"

"Talk."

I looked at him in disbelief, "You talk?"

"Babe," he said amused.

"Ok, this could be interesting then. Let's play the 'Let's Get to Know Ranger' game."

He quirked an eyebrow.

"What? I don't know anything about you, Ranger. And yet here I am constantly placing my trust and my life in your hands constantly. I think I deserve a little of a look inside the man, I call my friend. Who keeps breaking into my apartment, may I add."

"Alright, but we'll take turns asking questions."

"Deal," I grinned crazily.

"Babe, a little scary."

"Oh, Ranger, you don't know the half of it. We'll start off easy. Do you have any siblings?"

"Yes, three sisters, two younger one older, and an older brother."

"So you grew up around a bunch of women. Interesting. Is your brother sexy?" I tapped my finger on my chin to indicate I was letting the information sink in.

"He's married. Why did you move to Trenton?"

"To run away," I answered stiffly.

"From what?"

"Nope that's two questions. We never established how deep the answers had to be. It's my turn. Have you ever been married?"

"Yes — once — over ten years ago — for about twenty minutes. What were you running from?" he asked getting back to the question I avoided.

I sighed, "My life. There was too much pain so I ran. Plus, I came here for school. Why so short?"

"I only married her because she was pregnant with my child. I wanted to do the right thing. We realized it was stupid."

"You have a child?" I gasped.

He nodded, "Julie, she's ten and lives with her mother and stepfather down in Florida. Her mother and I agreed that because of my life it was best I was not an active part of Julie's life. I provide when she needs providing for, and I visit her if I'm in town with her mother's permission," he spoke calmly void of emotions. "Babe, that was two questions."

"Fine, then ask me two questions."

"Why don't you have any photos up?"

"I don't have any," I shifted my gaze to the door.

"Babe."

_Shit._ How is it that he knows when I'm lying?

"Your face is an open book. You aren't good at lying and you look like you're about to bolt."

I frowned, "I don't like to be reminded." Which was partially true but I didn't want to get into further details.

"So what are you and Morelli?"

I looked at him surprised not expecting that kind of question from Ranger, "I-I don't know."

"You must know something."

"I guess we like each other, but I wouldn't know what to call what's going on between us. One minute we're comfortable together like good friends and the next we infuriate each other like a pack of raging hyenas. Have you ever been in love, Ranger?"

"No. You?"

"I thought I was but I'm not so sure if it was real. Honestly, I don't even think I'd know what real love was even if it were to punch me in the face. There must've been some girl out there you've fallen in love with before. You must've loved Julie's mom at some point to have Julie and to marry her."

"The type of love that I offer comes with a condom and no ring. Julie's mother was a one night stand when I was young, foolish and irresponsible. I thought marrying her was the right thing to do to give our child my name."

"That's so sad, Ranger," I hung my head.

"It's the life I chose. What's in the shoebox?"

I froze and set my mind on the brown cardboard shoebox with pretty pink bow wrapped around it in the back of my closet. "Stuff," I answered avoiding his gaze. "Where do all of your cars come from? Every time I see you, you're in a brand new shiny exotic car. Surely being a BEA doesn't make you that much money."

"I own a security company, Rangeman. We do private security among others."

"Wow, that's pretty extraordinary, Ranger. I never thought of _Successful Businessman_ as being a line item on your resume. You can count me as thoroughly impressed."

"Babe," he responded with slight amusement. "You never answered my question about the box."

"I did and we never set ground rules as to how specific we have to answer these questions," I responded irritably.

He remained silent giving me that blank look.

"Memories are in the box. That's the most I'm willing to say. Ranger, you have your secrets and I have mine. Let's keep it at that ok?"

He gave me a curt nod and moved onto the next question, "Why don't you ever just ask for help?"

"I'm not used to it being offered," I shrugged. "I'm used to being alone and handling situations on my own. So, I've learned to suck it up to just do it. Besides you don't need help, why would I be any different? I can handle myself just as well as you. Although I may take a different route and it may take me longer than you, I'll eventually overcome my obstacle."

"I don't always handle things on my own. I rely on my men and the team for backup on numerous occasions. You know I'm not really a superhero, right Babe?"

I blushed, "Who did you lose your virginity and how old were you?"

"That's two questions, Babe."

"No, it was a combo question." Ok, so I was making up the rules along the way but Batman seemed to be cooperating.

"I was fourteen to my brother's girlfriend."

My jaw dropped, "How much older is your brother Ranger?"

"Eight years."

"So she was around twenty-two and you were fourteen?" I gaped. "Oh my god, your brother must've been pissed."

"We don't have the best relationship. That was just the icing on the cake. He thought I was a trouble maker which wasn't far from the truth and he was the golden boy focusing on his law degree. Which he wasn't too far from the truth, so my parents sent me down to Florida to live with _mi abuela_. That was several questions. What about you, Babe?"

I hesitated as my face turned beat red, "I was nineteen. I gave it up to the first boy who ever told me that he loved me."

_Pause._

"And he left me," I said flatly.

"He broke up with you after you slept together?"

"Oh no, we stayed together for a couple of months after that, but he literally left me. One day he just up and disappeared. Where's the Batcave, Batman?"

"Batcave?"

"Yeah, Joe says that your address is listed as an empty lot. Obviously you don't live there unless there's a secret button that releases a hidden door where you enter into the Batcave in the ground. So, where do you live, Batman?"

He gave me that annoying blank stare of his.

"Ranger, answer the question!" I pressed.

"Why do you want to know, Babe? Would you like me to take you there?" he said in a devious voice.

"Maybe," I said slowly.

"Babe, if I take you there. It'll be forever."

I wrinkled my nose. Maybe Joe was right, what do I know about Ranger? He could be a crazed serial killer that keeps breaking into my apartment and waiting for the perfect time to drag me to his hidden lair where he'll keep me there and never let me see the day of light. But for some reason I feel safe with him. I feel like I could trust him with my life.

"Babe, I can see the hamster wheels turning in there," he tapped on my noggin.

"Fine don't answer my stupid question. I didn't want to know anyways."

This game went from fun to frustrating. I was learning next to nothing really personal about Ranger. But my irritation isn't really justified because as much as Ranger was the strong silent type, he was amusing me by answering my questions in his own way. I guess this was what the doctor was referring to when he said I would experience some symptoms of personality changes from my mild concussion.

"How did your parents really die," Ranger asked breaking my train of thought.

I looked at him incredulously. Who was this man? My mind was racing. Why would he ask the question in that way? "They died in an accident," I replied short-tempered. "Why would you ask me something like that?"

"I ran a check on you and your records are a little too clean."

"You ran a _background_ check on me?" I went into full rhino mode.

He shrugged, "My team and I do it on everyone we work with. We need to make sure we know who we're dealing with. My computer tech, Hector, who is a genius at hacking all kind of secured networks, says whenever we try to dig further into your records he hits road blocks and there's not much in way of information on your past pre-accident.

I blinked at him wide eyed, "If I tell you, will you tell me about one of your top secret missions?"

"You know I can't do that, Babe."

"Well, then I guess I'm entitled to my secrets as well. Besides there's nothing to tell, my parents died in a car accident. Simple as that. As for my records, we were a very typical plain old family. So it's not surprising that there's not much about us. We didn't really do much but live our lives."

"Babe—"

I pounced on him straddling his legs and pressed my lips against his. Why? I have no clue. It was my like my brain wasn't communicating with my body. A part of my strange personality change symptoms? My brain was screaming at me, _"What are you doing? Stop it." _But I couldn't get my body to quit for some reason. I pressed harder into Ranger kissing him hungrily. I fisted my hand into his shirt as he grabbed my ass pulling me hard against him.

I moaned into his mouth, "Ranger," clutching onto him as I continued to explore the inside of his mouth with my tongue. My mind was screaming at me so much that it was pounding. I was losing my mind, and I couldn't seem to control it.

"Babe," Ranger responded pushing me away slightly.

"Mmm…shut up, Ranger," I growled angrily sinking my teeth into his bottom lip and sucking it lightly.

_Thud. Thud. Thud. _My head kept pounding.

"Someone's at the door," Ranger said pulling my hips into him firmly and deepened the kiss.

_Thud. Thud. Thud. _

"Babe."

I pried my lips away from Ranger's realizing the pounding in my head wasn't in my head. It was someone at my front door.

"Go away!" I growled angrily at the door and continued to attack Ranger.

"Cupcake, open the door!"

"Shiiiit…" I hissed pulling away from Ranger.

Ranger slid me off his lap back onto the couch and answered the door.

"Morelli," Ranger nodded at him in acknowledgement.

"Ranger," Joe responded to him with the same courtesy. "I'm off duty; I can take over the _Alyssa Watch_."

Ranger nodded in agreement and slipped out the door. I crossed my arms and glared at Joe. The nerve of those two thinking they can just hand me off like I was some sort of object.

"Cupcake," Joe smiled sliding his arm around my shoulders as he took his place on the couch next to me.

I looked up into his eyes and launched myself at him. God I was such a whore.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Previous Chapter: **__"Ranger," Joe responded to him with the same courtesy. "I'm off duty; I can take over the Alyssa Watch."_

_Ranger nodded in agreement and slipped out the door. I crossed my arms and glared at Joe. The nerve of those two thinking they can just hand me off like I was some sort of object. _

"_Cupcake," Joe smiled sliding his arm around my shoulders as he took his place on the couch next to me. _

_I looked up into his eyes and launched myself at him. God I was such a whore._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 8<strong>

I woke up the next morning feeling great wrapped up against a solid warm body. I took a deep breath and smiled pressing myself up closer to Joe. As much as we fought heatedly, Joe was someone I felt immensely comfortable with. He made me smile and honestly he made my heart swell up with passion.

"Good morning, Cupcake," he said kissing the top of my head.

"Morning," I smiled lifting my head to kiss his lips.

I rolled on top of him into a sitting position allowing the sheets to slide off my naked body giving him a full frontal view of me straddling his torso.

"God you're gorgeous, Cupcake," he smiled in adoration.

"Really?" I said leaning in to softly kiss his ear.

"Yeah, fucking sexy," he growled groping my breasts.

"You think I'm sexy?" I whispered nibbling his earlobe.

"Hell yeah."

"Dickie said I'm not that's why he had to cheat on me."

"Dickie's an idiot."

"He told me that I wasn't…exciting," I dropped my head.

"Cupcake, you're as exciting as they get. I'll fucking kill, Dickie, just say the word," he caressed my cheek.

I kissed him on the lips, "Do you have to go in today?"

"Yes," he groaned gripping my hips.

"I say we play hooky today and stay in," I teased flicking my tongue against his hard nipple.

He growled with pleasure and with swiftness he lifted my hips up effortlessly and plunged my sex down onto his impressively growing member.

"Cupcake, I would make it a field day to spend the day with you," he said taking my mouth into his for a hungry kiss which he poured down the length of my body. "But I have to go in today, there's a big case I'm working on."

I rocked my hips into him and clenched. "That's too bad," I moaned lifting his head up to meet mine. I fisted my hands into his brown curls giving him a hard deep passionate kiss that lingered close to soul sucking.

I pulled away from the kiss abruptly looking him in the eyes and flashed him a wicked smile. I pushed myself off of him disconnecting our bodies, "I guess we should get ready for work then."

He grabbed me and pinned me down onto the bed and plunged himself back into me, "I didn't say I had to go in right this minute."

I grinned and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Besides, I need my breakfast cupcake," he winked.

_**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**_

My day went without a hitch. I wrangled up my three new skips for the day without being covered in food or trash. No blown up cars. Driving Ranger's Porsche was an orgasmic experience. It fit me like a glove and to put the icing on the cake when I first slid into the car a CD was sitting on the passenger seat with a pink bow on it. I cried with glee as the sweet sounds of Salt 'n Pepa filled my ears. Ranger was truly a one of a kind friend.

I headed back to the car after dropping off my last skip at the precinct and went through a number of photos Carl put together for me to attempt to identify the blue devil from the _Tasty Pastry_ the previous day. I identified Clarence Brown, nineteen year old, whose record consisted of simple petty crime.

I key fobbed the beautiful, sleek, shiny black Porsche ahead of me. All of Ranger's cars seemed to be black like his clothing. The man was mysterious and definitely fit the description of Batman. I swung the door open when a voice called from behind me startling me.

"Cupcake."

My hand flew to my chest, "Don't sneak up on me like that, Joe!" I smacked his rock hard chest.

"Where'd you get the car?" he eyed the Porsche suspiciously.

"It's a loaner," I replied curtly quickly removing the glowing smile I sported all day courtesy of the Joe Morelli induced orgasm from earlier.

"There's no way a rental agency would give you a car like that especially with your record. Whose car is it?" he asked in his cop voice.

"Ranger's," I gave him a pointed look.

The muscles in his jaw tightened, "What did you have to do for him to be stupid enough to loan you his car?"

My jaw tightened with just as much intensity as his, "He's my friend, Joe. He lent it to me as a favor."

"Must've been some favor."

"Just what are you trying to accuse me of, Joe?"

"I don't like him, Alyssa, and I don't like you associating yourself with him. He's a loose cannon. Have you ever thought about what he does for a living and where he gets all of these cars?"

"I trust him, Joe. That's all I know. And I would hope that you trust me."

"I do. But I don't trust him; the man thinks he's above the law. Plus, I don't like the way he looks at you."

"I don't know what you're talking about. He's my friend. You're just going to have to trust me and if you can't trust me there's nothing left for us to talk about," I stood my ground.

His muscles relaxed slightly and his eyes softened, "I'm sorry. How about I make it up to you by bringing over dinner tonight?"

"I can't," I shook my head. "I have plans."

"What kind of plans that you can't reschedule for me," he replied pushing a strand of hair behind my ears. "We could pick up where we left off this morning."

This was the most affection Joe would show to me in public knowing that his colleagues were all within our field of vision. Although practically the whole precinct knew that we were seeing each other, Joe wanted to keep things "professional." Every time something happened and the cops showed up, you better believe that Joe was there within a matter of minutes because someone had informed him that his "woman" got herself into something again.

_Woman._ I didn't even know what to classify myself as in Joe's life and I didn't know how to classify him in mine.

"Cupcake? Reschedule for me," he playfully pouted pulling on the straps of my tank top and peered into my shirt.

"I made a commitment, Joe, and I'm not going to back out on a commitment to a friend. Besides this is work related."

His eyes grew dark again as his jaw reflexively tightened, "Work? On a Friday night? What kind of work and do I even want to know which friend you're referring to?"

I was growing tired of his demanding disposition, "I promised Ranger that I would help him tonight on a capture, ok?"

"Why would Ranger need help from _you_?"

That statement pissed me off to no means. "What's that supposed to mean, Joe? That you think I'm too incompetent that it would be a ridiculous notion that someone would ask _me_ for help?" my voice volume increased a notch.

"No, I find it ridiculous that Ranger would need help when he's got his legion of goons to lean on."

Ranger had friends or what now I knew now was most likely employees of his security company which he mentioned owning yesterday. The few that I met were just as scary and menacing as he was. I've had the pleasure to meet one of his band of Merry Men, Tank, and only seen at a glance two others that backed him up during the Pinky incident.

"They're not goons," I clenched my teeth. "Ranger needs help in a way that I can provide, and I will jump at the opportunity to help him out when I can, given that he's helped me out in more ways than one."

"Cupcake, he's dangerous."

"He's not and I would appreciate it that you didn't insult my friends. I'm done talking to you, Joe. Call me when you get your ego in check."

I slid into the car and slammed the door. I peeled out of the parking lot watching Joe standing where I left him with his hands planted firmly on his hips.

Joe was right; I didn't know much about Ranger. For all I know, he could be a hired assassin. But what I did know was that Batman was a good guy and he always fought on the side of justice.

* * *

><p><em>Sorry for the short chapter. I needed a filler to lead into the next chapter. The next chapter is longer and more fun, promise! =) <em>


	9. Chapter 9

_**Previous Chapter: **__I slid into the car and slammed the door. I peeled out of the parking lot watching Joe standing where I left him with his hands planted firmly on his hips. _

_Joe was right; I didn't know much about Ranger. For all I know, he could be a hired assassin. But what I did know was that Batman was a good guy and he always fought on the side of justice._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 10<strong>

Right on cue, a knock came from my door promptly at eight o'clock. I opened the door and stood faced to face with Ranger dressed in his usual S.W.A.T. like outfit which included all black gear from cargo pants, t-shirt, and combat boots.

"I thought you said that Tank was coming to pick me up," I grabbed my purse and keys off the side table next to the door.

"I thought this was a job best done myself," he eyed my dress appreciatively.

I recalled the comment I made to him when he asked me for help about my short slinky dress. I had followed through with my promise dressed in a short sleeveless black summer dress with a scoop neck and tulip hem that clung to my curves in all the right places coupled with a pair of five-inch black peep-toe pumps with silver metal stiletto heel.

I swung my hips out the door, "Come on, Batman. I'm ready to go kick some butt."

_**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**_

We were joined by two black SUVs in the parking lot of _FoxHound_. Before stepping out of the car, Ranger slid his hand down my dress placing a wire beneath the clasp of my miracle bra. My body heat was kicked up a couple of notches from Ranger's hands millimeters away from the twins. He handed me a little device with a single button on it. I studied it in my hand.

"It's a panic button. Push it the minute you feel that you're in danger and we'll extract you."

I slipped it into my purse.

He pulled my face into his and gave me a sweet soft lingering kiss. "Are you sure you're ok to go through with this, Babe?"

I nodded my head and smiled, "Of course." For reasons beyond my understanding, my safety didn't matter when it came to being given the opportunity to help Ranger.

We stepped out of the car and were approached by three large men, one being Tank, the other two I didn't recognize. One guy had an eerie resemblance to Ranger, although his features were nowhere close to his with his blond hair and green eyes to Ranger's dark brown features, something about him just screamed Rangeresque. He was more slender than Ranger but still cut and obviously could hold his own but he didn't have the muscle mass Ranger adorned and he had kind eyes.

All of the men wore the same blank faces as Ranger except for _Ranger's_ _twin_. His blank face slid into a smile the instant moment me laid his eyes on me. The other man had muscles in places I didn't know you could have muscles; his had an incredibly thick neck that made it look like his head was just attached to his shoulders.

Tank, I had the pleasure of meeting before during the Pinky situation. Tank was built, well, like a tank. Tall, big, solid, silent type. "We have two men stationed at the back door," Tank informed Ranger.

_Ranger's twin's_ eyes were dancing as his eyes were planted on me.

"Santos," Ranger barked.

His _twin_ snapped out of his daze, "Curtis is inside already, Boss. We believe he is armed and has two goons with him."

"Good," Ranger replied. "Gentlemen, this is Bond Enforcement Agent Alyssa Chau. She has agreed to work with us as the distraction on this extraction. Alyssa you've briefly met Tank" — Tank nodded his head — "Santos" — Ranger's _twin_ flashed me a sexy grin — "And Hal" — he stood stiffly obviously very uncomfortable.

"The plan is for Ms. Chau to go in identify Curtis and have him follow her out of the bar," Tank instructed handing me a folder similar to the skip files from Connie at the Bonds office. "Our team will be outside to apprehend him the moment she steps out of the bar. The plan is to do this as quickly and safely as possible with minimal collateral damage." He turned to me and firmly and searched my face, "Babe, you still have the opportunity to step down if you're not comfortable."

"Are you kidding me? I'm ready to do this," I replied firmly trying to convince myself that the tingly unnerving sensation would go away the minute I stepped through those double doors to the bar.

He nodded, "Make sure to keep the panic button within reach and if you feel any sign of danger. Push it. We'll be listening from out here but we don't have eyes inside. There are too many regulars there and we can't risk having them recognize a Rangeman employee inside, so be careful. Push the panic button and shout for help if you need it."

The men gave me an affirmative head nod. I stared at the door as I could feel my heart trying to pound its way out of my chest. I know I want to do this for Ranger but according to the file Curtis was for beating his girlfriend and attempted to set her apartment on fire with her still in it. He was a dangerous man with known gang connections. I sucked in a deep breath and flung my arms around Tank's waist giving him a tight hug. He awkwardly patted me on the back.

I released my death grip around him and jumped up a few times and shook out the nervous tingles from my limbs. "Ok now I'm good," I flashed the big men a confident smile. "High five!" I shouted to Lester as I walked by him. He raised his hand up and I slapped it as I walked past him towards the door. "Let's do this!" I pumped my fist in the air as I reached the door and pushed it open.

I spotted Curtis right away. "I spot the target," I said quietly under my breath. He was sitting alone at a high top watching a pool game nursing a drink. His mind was obviously elsewhere but he had an intense hard look on his face. I made my way to an empty high top next to a pool table close to the entrance for an easy escape but still within Curtis' line of vision.

I pulled myself onto the stool and crossed my legs meticulously drawing attention from the men in the bar. The night was still young so the bar wasn't particularly crowded. The waiter approached me and placed a cocktail napkin down on the table. "What can I get for you?" he smiled.

I returned the smile, "I'll start with a coke with a cherry, please."

"Anything for a beautiful lady," he winked.

I scanned the bar quietly and spotted two angry men dressed in black suits on each corner of the room. I noticed slight bulges under their blazers which I am assuming was concealing their firearms. "I've spotted the two bodyguards," I muttered quietly.

I sat back in my seat as the waiter set my drink down in front of me. I smiled up at him, "Thank you."

"Please forgive me if I'm being too forward and believe me when I say I never do this. But I was hoping if you ever find yourself bored one evening you would think about giving me a call." He slid a cocktail napkin towards me with a phone number written on it.

"Oh," I blushed. "T-thank you—"

"—Mitch. Think about it," he smiled walking away.

I was shocked, this kind of thing didn't ever happen to me. This was more like a Misty Plum scenario but then again, I didn't make it a habit to hang out at bars either. What the hell, I might as well keep my options open while I'm exploring things with Joe. But this isn't a time for me to be looking at my dating options. Taking a sip of my drink, I looked back to where Curtis was before but he'd disappeared.

"_Shit! I messed up already. I'm such a screw-up!"_ _I quietly scolded myself._

"You're not fooling anyone," a low raspy voice said.

I looked up stunned to see Curtis had taken a seat across from me. "What do you mean by that and who would I be trying to fool?"

"Your cocktail," he answered picking up my drink and taking a sip. "Or lack thereof."

I gulped and quickly regained my composure by lacing my fingers around my glass pulling it out of Curtis's hands.

"I'm not trying to fool anybody. I like to make sure my head is straight. I've come here to relax and to escape from a hectic day at work. I like to think of myself as smart so I'm not going to put myself in a position to not have control over my judgment," I said curtly taking a sip of my drink and plopping the cherry into my mouth.

Curtis sat silently observing me.

"If you don't mind, I would appreciate it if you would remove yourself from my table. I don't take kindly to accusations and my intentions of coming here were to relax which you're quickly putting a damper on."

What the hell was I doing? Ranger was counting on me to talk this guy into leaving the bar with me so that they could extract him and here I am being…well…being — _ME_ — indifferent and stand-offish. This was definitely not a time to be me. I thought walking into the bar I was going to be able to turn on the charm and ooze sweetness, but this was turning out harder than I thought.

His face softened slightly, "I apologize if I've offended you. I've just never seen you here before."

"I don't often go to bars but I desperately needed an escape," I quickly softened my tone trying desperately to recover the situation

"Well, most people come to bars as an escape but they escape their troubles by drowning them in alcohol and sin," he flashed me a smile.

"Well, then I suppose I got the bar part right but I'm not much of a drinker, so that's going to have to be as far as I go."

"Afraid to let loose or lose control?"

"Something like that," I trailed off staring at the pool tables trying to avoid eye contact. I've been told that before that I'm a terrible liar and my eyes always give everything away.

"You know playing pool is also a great way to get your mind off of things. You play?"

I shook my head.

"I can show you."

"I don't know if that's a good idea. I was hoping to just sit here alone and collect my thoughts." _Retard!_ Why do you keep trying to push this idiot away?

He grinned a sinister smile, "Thinking too much is never the solution either. If you want a release, there are much better ways to release tension. I could help you with a few techniques myself. First, I'll show you how to use a pool stick. Second, I'll show you how to use another stick later tonight."

I mentally gagged. Apparently me pushing him away, made him even more interested in me. He stood up and grabbed my hand to lead me to the pool table. "There're no free tables," I protested.

"Trust me. I'll help you forget all about your day and a table is about to open up right now."

He made a hand gesture to the table next to our table and the men immediately stopped playing and put down their pool sticks and walked away. "I'll let you break," he said handing me a pool stick after racking the balls.

"Break?" I asked pretending to be ignorant.

He nodded, "Hit the white ball to break up the balls in the middle."

"Ok," I leaned over and struck the ball with minimal strength causing the balls to barely move.

Curtis chuckled.

"Sorry," I replied sheepishly.

"You'll learn," he shot two solids into the side pocket. "Now you want to try to get the striped balls into the pockets."

I leaned over the pool table dramatically to allow my dress to ride up slightly. I felt a chill run down my spine as Curtis leaned into me. His reeked of alcohol and stale cigarettes. I wanted to vomit.

"The trick is that you want to make sure you hold the stick at the right angle," he wrapped his arms around me to guide the stick. "You do know how to hold a stick don't you?" he whispered into my ear.

"I've been told on occasion that I'm pretty good with a stick," I replied coyly. With a quick fluid movement, the ball shot into the corner pocket after ricocheting off the side of the table. I feigned excitement spinning around to face Curtis. "That was amazing! It went in!" I clasped my hands.

"It definitely did. Give me some more time and I'll have you playing like a pro," he leaned into me pushing me up on the table. His hands slid up my thigh as he leaned into me for a kiss and plunged his pungent tongue down my throat.

I suddenly felt a pinch as I noticed Curtis had his hands up my skirt and slid right into my panties. Flames engulfed my body as I bit down on my lip to keep me from crying out. The last thing I wanted was for Ranger and his men to think something was wrong and come charging in to the bar. I kicked Curtis off of me causing him to land hard on the floor.

From the corner of my eyes I could see his two goons springing into action. I grabbed two of the pool balls and chucked them as hard as I could at the two men before they could reach for their guns. The two balls connected with their heads and sent them crashing to the ground.

"_Ten points for Alyssa!" _I silently patted myself on the back. Not only was I good with a stick but apparently I was good with balls too. Curtis was getting back onto his feet behind me so I grabbed the pool stick and swung it hard against the side of his arm shattering the stick into pieces. He stumbled sideways but before he could regain his balance I charged at him shoving him through the front doors.

I reached into my purse and pulled out the spring baton that Ranger had given me snapping it out. I twirled the baton in my hand and struck Curtis on the side of his neck making him stumble backwards. I then struck the back of his leg causing him to fall on his back on the sidewalk.

"You bitch!" he sputtered as he reached into his waistband for his gun.

"Oh you hurt my feelings, Curtis," I pouted stepping on his hand with my heel as he screamed in pain a. I reached down and pulled his gun from his holster and tossed it to the side. "Keep talking because I'm not finding any really good reasons to not put my heel into your throat," I smirked moving my heel to his throat.

"You're lucky your pussy smells sweet and I that like them feisty," he grinned wildly looking up my dress.

"Well, you better take a good long look because this is the last you'll see one for a while because where you're going, you'll get another type of feisty."

"This is police brutality," he snarled angrily.

"Oh, I'm not the police, sweetheart. But feel free to." I pulled my cell phone out of my purse and tossed it on his chest, "Here, you can even use my phone. Or if you would like I'd be happy to call them for you. I'd love for you to explain that a 5'3" female weighing at 110 lbs in a mini dress and five-inch heels just kicked your sorry ass and took out two of your armed goons. In fact, I'll even dial for you. How about it?" I smiled at him.

"Fucking whore," he spit at me.

I quickly dropped to my knees straddling his torso and drove my knuckles into his face which was followed by a loud nasty cracking sound. "I may be many things, Curtis. But I'm no whore."

"You fucking cunt! You broke my nose," He grabbed his face with both hands as blood spurted out of his nose.

I pulled my arm back to punch him again but was suddenly finding myself airborne. For a split second, I had forgotten that Ranger and his men were all outside waiting for me. My focus had been on Curtis the whole time to notice that all of the men including Ranger were standing around us taking in the scene unraveling around them.

Lester and Hal lifted Curtis to his feet while Tank was gripping his arm around my waist holding me tightly against his body.

"Wait until I get out of the slammer, bitch. I'm coming for you."

I kicked and clawed at him wildly trying to launch myself at him; however, with Tank holding me back, I hadn't accomplished much. The only satisfaction I got was during my kicking my pumps had flown off and one connected with his groin.

"Bitch," Curtis bellowed leaning forward.

"Hey, asshole! If you're going to intend on yelling at me and threatening to come after me, then fucking learn my name. The name calling is getting tiring. The name is Alyssa Chau and don't you forget it." I continued to squirm in Tank's arm, "Tank, put me down!"

"Are you going to calm down, Little Girl?"

I stilled myself and let my body slack against his and nodded. He loosened his grip on me and set me back down on the ground.

Someone stepped out of the bar, "Hey, the Manager sent me out here to find out who's going to pay for the damages in the bar."

Tank pulled out a business card and handed it to the man, "Send the bill to this address."

The man stepped up to me, "Um, miss, you left this inside the bar."

I looked up and realized the man was Mitch, my server. I smiled, "Thanks, Mitch," and took the napkin with his phone number. I straightened out my dress.

"Alyssa Chau, huh?" Curtis hooted.

"What's so fucking funny, asshole?" I shouted at him.

"You. You're practically a dead woman anyways. Didn't you know there's a contract on your head?" he snickered. "You sure have a lot of enemies, honey."

I blanched, "Contract?"

Ranger replaced Santos' position next to Curtis grabbing a handful of his shirt and slammed him against the side of the SUV. "Explain," he growled.

"Apparently, your girl, here, doesn't know how to keep her nose out of business that doesn't concern her. The Slayers have it out for her. Rumor has it they contracted a professional named Junkman from LA to take her out," he explained.

He turned his head back to me, "See you should've taken up my offer to let me take away all of your troubles. I could've shown you a good time with the last days of your life."

I clenched my fist ready to step up to Curtis, but Lester had his hand on my arm faster than I could react.

"Babe, what happened inside," Ranger catching my gaze with his deep brown eyes.

I tensed my whole body up, "Asshole, here, thought it would be ok to slide his hand into my panties and up my…"

"You men are lucky, she's got a sweet, nice, tight pussy. So you guys take turns?" he smirked.

Ranger's gaze never left me but his eyes did intensify and his jaw muscle flexed slightly. Ranger rarely wore his emotions on the surface. He was the definition of calm and collected but at this moment I could sense his fury.

"Santos, take her to the car."

I broke away from Ranger's gaze and stared down Curtis. "You should have that nose of yours taken care of, it's looking a little crooked," I leered.

"You're mighty confident for a dead girl walking," Curtis replied in a snarky tone.

I lunged at him but before I could reach him Lester threw me over his shoulder and hauled me off to Ranger's Turbo.

I heard a loud crack and Curtis shout, "You fucking broke my hand!"

I looked up and caught a quick glimpse of Curtis lying on the ground with Ranger hoover over him with an enraged look on his face. Lester set me down inside of the car and smiled wildly at me.

I gave him a dubious look, "What?"

"Beautiful, you are one wild firecracker," he chuckled. "Your nickname really does suit you. You are certainly a Bombshell in every sense of the word."

I scrunched my nose at the nickname. I was about to step into the car when a black town car pulled up behind us and a tall slender dark haired man with piercing blue eyes stepped.

"Ah, Ms. Chau, fancy running into you here," he stepped up to me and politely planted a kiss on my hand.

"Mr. Stratton, what a pleasure." Wesley Stratton, owner of Stratton Construction, my first high bond skip. I had forgotten how charming and handsome Stratton was as his intense blue eyes felt like they were boring straight into my soul.

"Wes, please," he corrected me holding his gaze on mine. "You look absolutely ravishing. Please don't tell me that you're leaving. Please stay and share a drink with me. I would love to make up for the last night that was cut short during our time together. I never got the chance to properly thank you for saving my life."

I blushed remembering the intensity of my last night with Stratton. I was trying to flush him out to gain information as to where his wife was in hopes to clear my name for Joyce's disappearance, and being the charmer that he is…he had successfully swept me off my feet. "I wish that I could, Wes, but I really have to get going."

"Ah, perhaps another time then, you know there's still an opening in my office if you ever decide to change your career path," he wrapped his hand behind my neck and kissed me lightly on the cheek.

The other door to his town car swung open as a large man stepped out ending a call on his cellphone. My heart stopped as I stiffened.

"Alyssa, this is my good friend, Benito Ramirez," Wesley smiled and waved at him. "Benny, this is the woman who saved my life, Alyssa Chau."

A maniacal grin spread across Ramirez's face as he stepped towards me, "Ms. Chau and I have already had the pleasure of being acquainted."

I took a step backwards and ran into a firm wall. I looked up at Santos who replaced his goofy smile with a hard glare as he wrapped his hands around my arms tightly.

"Well, what a small world," Wesley smiled. "Alyssa, you'll have to join me one night for one of Benny's matches."

I gave him a weak smile, "Thank you for the offer, Wes. I'm not feeling so well. I really should get going. It was really nice to see you again."

I scrambled for the door of the Porsche clumsily. Santos steadied me and helped lower me into the car. I leaned my head back and took a deep breath.

"Are you ok?" Santos asked looking down at me with concern.

"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks," I smiled back at him.

He flashed me a gorgeous smile before shutting the door. Of all places to run into Wesley and Ramirez, it had to be at this dump. I sat quietly staring out the window thinking about what Curtis said about the contract on my head. I don't recall having any run-ins with any gang members. All of the skips that I've been collecting lately were just drunk and disorderly idiots.

Minutes later Ranger slid quietly into the driver seat. He leaned over me buckling my seatbelt and slid his hand down my dress to remove the wire. His hand glided down my legs as he placed both of my shoes back on my feet quietly.

He pulled out the napkin with Mitch's number from my hands and crumpled it up and tossed it out the window. "Hey!" I shouted in protest. "I might've wanted to call him."

Ranger shot me a hard glare before turning over his engine. My heart stopped beating and I felt my life flash before my eyes. I closed my mouth and leaned back in the seat and realized I was sitting in a car with a dangerous man and I probably just pissed him off with my amateurish takedown of Curtis and embarrassed him in front of all his men.

I shut my eyes realizing that tomorrow I could be waking up in some third world country.

* * *

><p><em>Hmm...Alyssa's not very good at distractions is she? Wonder if Ranger will ever use her again for one of his distractions or if he's going to give up on her. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. There will be some Ranger yumminess in the next. =)<em>


	10. Chapter 10

_**Previous Chapter: **__He pulled out the napkin with Mitch's number from my hands and crumpled it up and tossed it out the window. "Hey!" I shouted in protest. "I might've wanted to call him." _

_Ranger shot me a hard glare before turning over his engine. My heart stopped beating and I felt my life flash before my eyes. I closed my mouth and leaned back in the seat and realized I was sitting in a car with a dangerous man and I probably just pissed him off with my amateurish takedown of Curtis and embarrassed him in front of all his men._

_I shut my eyes realizing that tomorrow I could be waking up in some third world country._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 10<strong>

We drove in silence for about ten minutes which was not unusual for Ranger as he was a man of very few words. But this silence felt off. The tension just lingered in the air. I couldn't help but feel like I had disappointed Ranger or embarrassed him in front of his men with my childlike and unprofessional antics back there with Curtis.

I busted into tears, "Ranger, I'm sorry. I know you tell me I need to learn to control my temper. I don't know what overcame me. You said you wanted to keep the collateral damage to a minimum and I did the complete opposite of what you asked. I will pay for the damages, I promise. If I've embarrassed you in any way in front of your men, I'm very sorry. I know I don't think things through before I act. Please don't be mad at me."

My sobs quickly turned into hiccups as I continued my apologetic rambling Ranger made a sharp turn down a secluded ally and came to an abrupt halt halfway down the middle. I tensed up imagining the punishment Ranger was about to dish out at me. Joe was right, what did I really know about Ranger. Behind the cool façade could be an angry killer. I choked back my tears and squeezed my eyes tight to brace myself for what was to come.

But nothing came. I opened my eyes and looked over at Ranger. He had the blank look plastered on his face with his eyes focused ahead of him. He didn't look angry. He just sat there silently, so I did as he did and sat in silence. But I'm not known to be very patient so it lasted for, at most, two minutes.

I blinked back a tear unbuckling my seatbelt and turned to face him, "Ranger, look, I'm sorry. I'll take whatever punishment you want to dish out at me. Come on hit me." I faced him and braced myself.

Nothing happened. I peeked through one of my eyes and noticed that Ranger hadn't moved a single muscle. He was staring intently ahead of him. I relaxed my muscles and whispered, "Ranger, please don't block me out. I'm sor—"

Ranger cut me off by grabbing my arms and pulling me into his body for a long, hard, startling deep kiss.

I pulled back from him with tears pouring from my eyes, "I am sor—"

"—Babe, there's no need to be sorry. I'm proud of you," he replied in a soothing voice wiping away my tears with his thumb.

"Proud?" I choked out confused.

"I've said before you have incredible intuition. I am just sorry for putting you in a position of danger," he cupped my face as his eyes darkened.

I shook my head vigorously, "No you didn't. I attract trouble."

Ranger eyes softened and his body relaxed, "I can't argue with that."

I smacked him playfully on the chest but he held my hand to his chest and stared deeply into my eyes. I held his gaze taking in his incredible features.

His eyes darkened, "What did Stratton and Ramirez want?"

"Stratton was just asking me if I wanted to get together sometime. Not many words were exchanged with Ramirez."

"Have you told Morelli?"

"Told him about what?"

"The threats."

I avoided his gaze, "Yeah."

He tightened his grip around my wrists.

"Ok fine. No, but what's the point? He hasn't done anything and he'll eventually get bored of me and find another girl to mess around with. So there's no point to getting worked up over it."

"You need to tell Morelli," he said firmly.

"Fine," I said defiantly and quickly regained my composure. "Do you think that what Curtis said is true? There's a contract on my head? What did I ever do to The Slayers? I haven't had any run-ins with any gang members."

"Babe, didn't you identify the Blue Devil?"

I paused for a few moments before nodding my head.

"He's a member of The Slayers."

Great. I smashed my face into Ranger's chest and sucked in a deep breath and suddenly became entranced in his scent. There was something about Ranger that always made my heart flutter and every physical connection I had with him sent electricity coursing through my body. Ranger was a man I could see myself falling head over heels in love with if I wasn't careful. Someone that I would pour my hopes and dreams into but the reality of it all was I had to live in the real world.

He couldn't or didn't want the same of me. I was his fun, quick, no strings attached flirt toy. As he's repeatedly expressed to me, his life doesn't lend itself to relationships and he doesn't have room for love. My heart ached at that moment with the sinking realization that Ranger and I could never be any more than what we were currently — friends, mentor/mentee. But my mind wasn't rational at the moment.

He lifted my face up to his. His eyes were pulling me in and at that instant all I wanted was him. I couldn't think of the future or consequences. All I could feel was longing for his touch, his warmth, his kisses, his everything.

I threw myself into him with all of my might straddling my legs over his massive muscular thighs as the skirt of my dress rose up my ass. I kissed him with a strong deep passion that I've never felt for anybody before. His hands cupped around each of my butt cheeks pulling me in closer to him. His kisses proved to be as hungry as mine.

Ranger grew with excitement underneath of me; I ground myself up on him. His firm hands guiding my hips back and forth against him as he trailed kisses down my neck each kiss sending little electric shocks through my body. He slid the sleeves of my dress down as I leaned back against the steering wheel as he poured kisses down my chest pulling back the material of my bra and sucking attentively on my hardened nipples.

My heart melted more with every kiss. I leaned down and nibbled his ear moaning with each orgasmic friction connection between our sexes. I felt like a reckless teenager making out with her boyfriend in a dark car as we continued to dry hump each other feverishly. I no longer just wanted Ranger at that moment…I _needed_ him. I placed my hands around his face and pulled him into another satisfying intense kiss. "Ranger," I said breathlessly allowing a few tears to escape freely.

"Babe," he breathed back into my mouth.

"Promise me that you'll always be my friend…no matter what," I wrapped my arms around his neck and clung onto him tightly.

All movement stopped and the passion died down. I screamed at my idiotic self for ruining the moment. I don't know what drove me to say what I did and at that exact moment. Seeing how angry Ranger had gotten after the Curtis incident and the number of times he pulled me out of a bind, I couldn't see myself living a life without Ranger in it. Not because I wanted him to save me from every pickle I got myself into, but because I just couldn't imagine not having Ranger in my corner. My world without Ranger would be a world without meaning.

After my mood killing question, I half expected Ranger to push me away in disgust but instead he lifted my head up to gaze into his eyes and kissed me lightly on the lips, "Forever, Babe."

I thought my heart was going to combust at that very second. "Thank you," I smiled sniffling leaning my head against his forehead. We sat like that for a few minutes just listening to each other's rapid breathing.

Eventually he loosened his hold around my waist cueing me to slide back into the passenger seat. We drove back to my apartment in silence. When we arrived, I looked back over at Ranger who quickly put his blank face back on. He reached to his side and pulled out my baton from his utility belt. "Good to know you're comfortable with it," he said handing it to me.

I smiled, "It's the most thoughtful gift I've ever received. I never got a chance to thank you. Tonight was my first time using it and it felt great. Thank you."

For a hard and expressionless man, Ranger had shown me a great deal of generosity and kindness. He never berated me for my mistakes; he lifted me up with praise for things I did right. Knowing that my only line of defense to do my bounty hunting job was that I was trained Wushu stick fighting; he armed me with a spring baton inscribed with the single word "Babe" on it. Even though he questioned my choice of music, he had replaced my favorite Salt 'n Pepa cassette tape that had been blown to smithereens from my first car bombing with a new CD. My heart was filled with so much emotion for this man.

"Morelli," Ranger said interrupting my thoughts.

Why the fuck would he be mentioning Joe at a time like this? I looked ahead and saw Joe's truck and him climbing out of it as we pulled into the apartment lot. I returned my focus back to Ranger.

"Don't forget to tell him about the threats and the hit. He can help you."

I was confused by what Ranger was suggesting to me. Was it that he didn't want to help me anymore so he was sending me to the cops?

"Morelli's a good man," he replied calmly. "He cares about you."

My heart sank knowing exactly what Ranger's motives were at that moment. It was his subtle way of reminding me that he didn't want anything more from me than the friendship that we shared. He was sending me into the arms or another man because like a lovesick puppy that I was, I had a glimmer of hope that something could spark between us. He was helping me come back down to earth.

"Yeah, I suppose he is," I grumbled.

"Babe, I'll be in the wind for a couple of days."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, Ranger?"

"I'll be unreachable for a few days. I have some business to attend to elsewhere. If you need anything, call Tank. His number is programed into your phone."

I don't even want to know how Ranger managed to get Tank's number on my phone without my knowledge. "Yeah whatever," I replied frustrated from the rollercoaster of emotions this man put me through I reached for the door handle to get out of the car.

He grabbed my wrist, "I'm serious, Babe. Don't do anything crazy, call him for anything."

"Got it. Have fun being in the wind or whatever the fuck you call it," I shoved the door open.

"Babe."

"Oh and thanks for lending me your car. I'll pick up a new one tomorrow. Good-bye, Ranger. Try not to get shot," I said firmly tossing him the keys to his Porsche before slamming the door.

I walked up to an angry Joe approaching me and threw my arms around his waist and gave him a tight hug. Startled, Joe relaxed his body into mine and squeezed me back. "Cupcake," he replied with concern before pulling me into a warm possessive kiss.

The testosterone level seemed to be an ultimate high knowing that Joe's not the type for public displays of affection, but I knew at that he was putting on a display for Ranger's sake. At any other given time, I would've been angry at Joe but at this moment I wanted Ranger to see what he had done.

I heard the engine gun as he took off out of the parking lot. My heart was torn into a million pieces and I hated myself for feeling the way I did about Ranger and falling into bed with Joe as an easy escape.


	11. Chapter 11

_**Previous Chapter: **__I walked up to an angry Joe approaching me and threw my arms around his waist and gave him a tight hug. Startled, Joe relaxed his body into mine and squeezed me back. "Cupcake," he replied with concern before pulling me into a warm possessive kiss. _

_The testosterone level seemed to be an ultimate high knowing that Joe's not the type for public displays of affection, but I knew at that he was putting on a display for Ranger's sake. At any other given time, I would've been angry at Joe but at this moment I wanted Ranger to see what he had done. _

_I heard the engine gun as he took off out of the parking lot. My heart was torn into a million pieces and I hated myself for feeling the way I did about Ranger and falling into bed with Joe as an easy escape._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 11<strong>

I stood up from the old Victorian style loveseat and shook an older gentleman's hand.

"Thank you for helping with all of the arrangements. I wouldn't even know where to begin," I thanked the owner of the _Stiva's Funeral Services_.

"Alyssa, that's what we're here for. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or if there's anything else you would like to arrange before the service next week. Suzie Oz was a wonderful person and she's incredibly lucky to have a nice young lady, like yourself, making her arrangements for her," Stiva smiled warmly.

"Thank you again," I repeated before leaving.

I got into my new POS car that I purchased from _Blue Ribbon Used Auto_ this morning − an off-white 1981 Nissan Datsun for $200. The radio didn't work, the A/C was busted, and I was warned that the car often overheated so I had to keep a bottle of coolant in the car handy to cool down the engine. I desperately missed my sunny bug. I especially missed the working A/C.

"Hello?" I answered my phone.

"I can't get over it," Misty said exasperated on the other end.

"Get over what?"

"My attack! You're a Bounty Hunter now, help me get to the bottom of it. I just can't let it go. I have to get the bastard that did this to my hair!" she screeched.

"Misty, I'm not a detective. I don't know how to even begin to investigate this."

"You investigated Stratton and the construction site and you investigated Pinky."

"But he was one of my skips, I had a name, a face, an address to go off of. We don't have anything to go by."

"You heard what Mr. Alexander said. It's a big business. We just need to ask some questions, create some buzz and the right information may just fall right into our laps!"

"Why don't you just leave it up to the police to handle this, Mis?"

"Those idiots aren't going to do anything! Come on, Alyssa. You have to help me out here. A great injustice has been done to me."

I rolled my eyes, "Ok, Mis. I'll help you out, but you're taking the lead."

"Great! Come pick me up, my car's in the shop."

_Click._

"If I can make it," I muttered listening to my engine cough and sputtered down the street.

Misty lived on the other side of town. All I could do was pray that my little POS Datsun could make it there.

_**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**_

"We have to talk to the hos," Misty said anxiously.

"What? Why?" I asked.

"Because they've got to be the largest percentage of the consumer base, plus don't you watch _Law & Order_ and stuff on TV? Prostitutes have eyes and ears on the streets; they know everything that goes on."

"Ok then where to first?"

"Comstock and Stark — I've been told that there's a popular street corner there."

I shuddered at the thought of going back to Stark Street. The last time I was there was when I went to question Benito Ramirez. It's not one of the most savory parts of Trenton but as I said to Misty before, she's leading this investigation so we headed into the lion's lair.

We pulled up to Comstock in front of two women who fit the typical description of a street hooker. The one taller skinnier girl with long Beyoncé like hair was wearing metallic gold leggings with a black crop tube top, five-inch gold strappy stilettos, and big round black sunglasses was leaning up against the wall blowing large pink bubbles with her bright cherry red lips.

The other girl was about a couple inches taller than me and looked to be about three hundred pounds was squeezed into a neon pink spandex tube dress that looked to be ten times too small for her with matching five-inch pumps was fanning herself furiously with her pocket book. As large as the woman was in her tiny dress, she carried herself with complete confidence which was something to be admired.

"Nuh-uh, we don't do women," the larger woman spoke up raising her hands dramatically. "You'll have to go down about five blocks and ask for Stella."

"Oh we're not here to be serviced," Misty spoke up. "I'm Misty Plum and this is my friend Alyssa Chau," she pointed to me.

"I think that you two could make some good money here on Comstock being that you're a skinny white bitch and there are plenty of perverts out there with Asian fetishes even though you don't seem to have much junk in the trunk," the larger woman gestured towards my butt. "But you can't be selling on our corner. This here is mine and Candy's corner."

"We're not here to move in on your territory. We're actually hoping you could help us. Alyssa's a Bounty Hunter, and she'd like to ask you some questions."

Candy stood silently against the wall chewing on her gum while the larger hooker seemed to be the only one in a talkative mood.

"Bounty Hunter? Is that like a cop? I don't do well with cops," the larger woman waved nervously.

"She's not a cop," Misty assured her.

She dramatically clutched her chest, "Then you should've said so! You could give a bitch a heart attack with a misunderstanding like that. Since you're not cops, whatcha want to know?"

"Great! Go ahead, Alyssa," Misty nodded towards me.

I rolled my eyes, way to pass the buck, Misty. I stuck my hand out to shake the larger hooker, "I'm sorry I didn't quite catch your name."

"I'm Lula and this is my partner Candy."

"It's really nice to meet you, Lula, Candy. We were wondering if you know anything about black market hair extensions."

"Of course I do! All us hos know of it. You think we get these beautiful locks naturally," she flipped her bright red curly hair dramatically.

"Well, we were wondering if you could help point us in the right direction. My friend, Misty, was just recently a victim of a cut and run."

"How awful! Girl, you have some fine ass hair too."

Misty sniffed dramatically, "I know. I just feel like I need to nail the bastard that did this to me, so that this doesn't happen again to another unsuspecting person."

"Umm…mmm, Girl," Lula shook her head. "It's a shame that people just have no respect. I don't purchase any of that crap off the street, I only buy the finest of hair from Lovely Locks off of New Haven. They import hair from China finest of silk hair from China, you know. But I can see why crime rates would go up in the last month because the store has been closed since they shut down the shopping center for some murder investigation. Hold up, are you _that_ Bombshell Bounty Hunter. You know the one that offed that serial killer?"

"I didn't _off_ him," I said firmly.

"Girl, for a little bitch, you're pretty damn cool. But I'm telling you, many people are in an uproar about not being able to get their hair on account that the store's shut down. I heard that there's an underground market tonight on Stark at nine. I wouldn't go myself but I'm willing to help you two out on account that you're some cool bitches."

"That would be incredible!" Misty clapped her hands. "We'll pick you up here at 8:30 then!"

I shot Misty a dirty look but she kept on smiling.

"Girl, do you know _The Champ_?" Lula asked me.

"I've had a run in with him before why?" I replied.

"Because he's across the street staring at you like you're dinner."

I gulped trying to keep myself from spinning around to look.

"Ramirez is not someone to mess with. I would stay away from him if I were you. Some of my girls have been on his dark side and came back in a bad way."

"Thanks for the warning. I'll keep it in mind," I quaked. "We'll see you tonight, and thanks again for the help."

"Happy to help, I was just saying to Candy here that I needed a little bit of excitement in my life."

I gave the two ladies a quick finger wave while Misty gave Lula a big hug after the two exchanged compliments on each other's shoes.

I tried to avoid Ramirez's gaze as we headed to my car, but I caught a quick glimpse from the corner of my eye of him standing across the street with his hands on his hips grinning from ear to ear.

"Get in the car, Misty," I said in a low commanding voice.

She complied without question. I cranked the engine. Nothing.

"Fuck," I yelled banging my head on the steering wheel.

"Well, this sucks. I have AAA. Want me to call for a tow?" Misty asked.

"No, let me see if I can figure it out first," I replied popping the hood.

"Stay in the car," I commanded to Misty.

I stared at all of the components under the hood hoping something would jump out at me as the root of the problem but the truth is I don't know anything about cars.

"Alyssa, I know you saw me. _The Champ_ is hurt that you didn't come over to say hi. Instead you went to talk to those hos. What were you talking about?"

"None of your business, Ramirez, and why don't you run along and stop bothering me," I gritted my teeth keeping my gaze on the engine.

He grabbed my wrist roughly and pulled me into him, "You shouldn't talk to _The Champ_ that way."

"_The Champ_ needs to stop bothering me and leave me the hell alone," I shouted angrily trying to wriggle out of his grasps.

"Why aren't you like most women?" he asked softly tracing his finger around the outline of my breasts. "Most women would love to trade places with you."

"I fucking welcome them to it," I sneered at him.

He tightened his grip on my wrist and wrapped his hand around my breast and squeezed tight.

"Let go of me you, asshole!" I struggled under his grip on the verge of tears.

"You know I wasn't every happy seeing Stratton with his hands all over you. He's lucky he's a good friend of mine or I would've ripped his heart out of his chest," he said sinisterly in my ear.

I heard a car pull up. Great, he has reinforcements. How am I going to get out of this one? On top of that, I've possibly put Misty into harm's way. I stupidly stepped out of the car without any protection and we drove my POS car into the most dangerous area of Trenton. I heard the sound of footsteps coming around the side of my car.

"Is there a problem here?" a commanding deep booming voice said rounding the corner of my car behind Ramirez.

Relief tugged at my heart. Tank stood firmly with his hand on over the gun on his hip holster. I felt the presence of someone else standing behind me.

"No problems here," I wrangled my hand harder out of Ramirez's grasp. "_The Champ_ was just about to leave."

Ramirez loosened his grip and I stepped back slamming into a wall with arms that reached out to steady me.

"We're not done yet, Alyssa. I'm going to fuck you so good and hard you'll be screaming my name for hours. Make sure you save yourself for me. You two better not fucking place your dicks anywhere near her," Ramirez jeered glaring at Tank as he walked away.

"This isn't a safe place for you to be breaking down, Little Girl," Tank stated with a stern tone.

I threw my arms around Tank's waist and hugged him. He awkwardly returned the hug.

"What am I chopped liver? Why does he always get all of the hugs?" a voice exclaimed coming from the man who was standing behind me — Santos.

"Sorry," I replied clinging onto Tank and began rambling. "My car wouldn't start and I stupidly left the car without my stun gun or baton. I don't know what I'm looking at and I just wasn't thinking. And I knew Ramirez was watching me from across the street. I was a complete idiot. Ranger would be disappointed in my stupidity. I tried to hold my ground but he had his hands on me and I couldn't budge," I began sobbing into Tank's chest.

"Ranger did instruct you to call me if you had any trouble, right?"

I nodded stepping back and wiping my nose with the back of my arm. God, I hated acting like a female in distress.

"Then what are you doing on this side of town alone."

"Hey! It's fucking hot in here, are you _trying_ to bake me in this hunk of junk you call a car?" a loud high pitch shriek came from inside of the car.

"I didn't come alone," I pointed to the car. "Misty's here with me. It's daytime and we just came to ask some questions."

"Next time call me," Tank instructed.

I nodded my head.

"I mean it. Call me for anything," he said firmer.

"No problem, Big Guy," I said regaining back my composure or would you call it my stubborn disposition. "Fucking, Ranger-bot," I muttered stepping back onto the sidewalk.

"I heard that."

I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Ha ha, Beautiful, you're a riot," Santos laughed.

"I like him," I pointed at Santos. "He smiles and laughs unlike you and Ranger. No fun — a couple of sticks in the mud. If you're quite finished fathering me, you think you can help get my car started?"

Santos still chuckling stepped into the car and cranked the engine, "It's your battery, Beautiful. We'll give you a jump."

The got my car working and it coughed and sputtered like its pathetic old self again.

"Thanks for coming to the rescue. By the way, how did you know I was here?"

"We just happened to be driving through."

For some reason, I didn't believe him but I felt like it was best not to question him since he did practically save my life. "Well, I guess I was just really lucky then."

"Luck has nothing to do with it, Little Girl. Ranger filled me in on your problems with Ramirez. I want you to be careful and I'm not kidding about calling me for anything."

"Gotcha, I heard you the first few hundred times," I said flippantly.

I looked over at Misty and Santos standing to the side of the car having an animated conversation. I slammed my hand down on the roof of the car to get their attention. "Hey if you guys want to take my piece of shit car and continue this conversation, I don't mind riding in the nicely air conditioned SUV with Tank."

Santos stepped out of the car, "Beautiful, I wouldn't be caught dead driving this piece of junk. You should get a more reliable car."

"Thanks for the advice," I rolled my eyes.

I gave them a quick finger wave.

"He's yummy, Alyssa," Misty gushed. "How do you know him?"

"He works for Ranger I think, or he's a friend. I don't know. I just know him through Ranger."

"If all of his friends or employees look like those two, sign me up!"

"Misty, please don't. I have to work with Ranger from time to time. I can't be having you mucking up that relationship."

"Ok," she threw her hands up. "I was just saying it could be fun."

I rolled my eyes. Misty didn't need an introduction to Ranger's Merry Men she could put together her own band of Merry Men if she wanted to. She attracted men like bees to honey barely needing to lift a finger to attract the attention of the opposite sex.

"You should seriously think about hitting that."

"Mis! I'm not going to _hit_ that, if I'm concerned about you mucking up my professional relationship with Ranger, what makes you think that me getting with one of his men isn't going to mess it up?"

"Oh that's right because you're saving yourself for the juicy Ranger, right?"

"No. It's strictly professional."

"Right, speaking of professional, I plan on hitting the guy from the legal department tonight. So we'll have to drive separately tonight. I'll meet you on our corner tonight at 8:30."

"Fine."

"Seriously, you need some spice in your life. Think about it."

Misty had no idea how much spice was already in my life. Too much that I couldn't handle the heat.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Previous Chapter: **__"Oh that's right because you're saving yourself for the juicy Ranger, right?"_

_ "No. It's strictly professional."_

_ "Right, speaking of professional, I plan on hitting the guy from the legal department tonight. So we'll have to drive separately tonight. I'll meet you on our corner tonight at 8:30."_

_ "Fine."_

_ "Seriously, you need some spice in your life. Think about it."_

_ Misty had no idea how much spice was already in my life. Too much that I couldn't handle the heat._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 12<strong>

I pulled up on Comstock behind Misty's Miata and looked over at Lula and Misty chatting and laughing it up as if they were old friends.

"Hey, sorry I'm late. I had some trouble starting the car."

"Girl, you can't call that thing a car," Lula exclaimed. "Now that…" she pointed at a pristine red Firebird, "…is a car."

I nodded in agreement. "Are you two seriously dressed like that for a stake out?" I exclaimed pointing to their outfits.

Both of them were wearing black mini dresses with FMPs.

"Just cause we're on a stake out doesn't mean we shouldn't look good," Lula exclaimed.

"Besides, I told you that I was meeting with John from Legal tonight. I heading straight there afterwards," Misty spoke up.

I pinched the bridge of my nose trying to control the headache creeping into my head.

"You could've tried a little harder on your outfit, Girl," Lula pointed at my skinny black jeans, simple black boyfriend tank and black chucks.

"Well, I didn't get the memo that we were supposed to dress up. I thought we were just going on a stake out. Anyways, how do you expect us to run if we end up getting caught in those shoes?"

"Girl, I can do anything in these shoes if I wanted to. I can run, jump, dance, do the watusi, you name it," Lula bragged. "There ain't nothin' Lula can't do in high heel shoes. It's part of the profession."

I shook my head in disbelief, "Ok then so where are we going?"

"It's about three blocks down Stark,'" Lula explained how the market worked. "Girl, I think it's best you not go in. I don't think you could get past the doorman since you're not looking like you're going to give him any. White girl and I will go in and check out the place and ask questions. You can be our backup from the outside."

I rolled my eyes, "Fine."

"Are you packing?" Lula asked.

"Packing what?" I responded back.

"Heat!"

"You mean a gun?"

"Of course a gun, what did you think I was asking? I'm always packing heat," she said proudly pulling out a large handgun from her purse.

"Me too," Misty pulled out a standard looking gun that resembled a cop's firearm from her purse.

I looked at Misty in disbelief, "When did you start carrying around a gun?"

"I've always had my glock."

"Of all these years I've known you, how did I not know this?"

She shrugged, "You don't really pay attention? Besides who doesn't carry a gun? We live in Trenton. Even my priest has a gun."

"What about you , Girl? You packing?" Lula asked me again.

"Yes, I have a gun," I replied patting my purse to make sure I remembered. I promised Ranger that I would carry the gun with me as long as Ramirez was still making threats towards me.

"Great! Then we'll be able to shoot some sons of bitches if things get too hairy," Lula exclaimed.

"No!" I shouted. "No shooting! If things get hairy, we just run."

"You're no fun," Lula pouted.

"Let's go. I feel a migraine coming on."

I watched from a bush as Lula and Misty flirted their way through the doors of a dark abandoned building. My stomach was churning; I didn't have a good feeling about this at all. I should've listened and called Tank for backup but being that I'm stubborn. I chose not to. I didn't want to run up my "tab" with Ranger after all. Who knew what the man was charging me for his crazy services.

After Lula and Misty disappeared through the doors, I made my way around the side of the building in search of a window but all of the windows were blacked out. I spotted a hint of a light coming from a window up above. I eyed the rusty old fire escape.

Taking a deep breath, I climbed the stairs to the third level carefully. The light was coming through a small crack in the window. It was an empty warehouse set up like a flea market for wigs. I heard some loud shouting coming from around the corner. I turned around to see what all of the commotion was and saw a group of guys standing around the side of the ally. I watched as a group of guys were kicking around another guy. One of the guys had something sticking out of his back pocket that looked a like it could be some sort of Halloween mask ‒ a blue devil mask.

My eyes grew wide as I tried to focus in on the men to see if I could recognize any of the other men from the photos Carl showed me the other day. Suddenly the Blue Devil brandished a silver pistol shot off two rounds into the man lying on the ground.

"Who are you calling fat?" I heard a muffled shout and another gun shot.

I spun around and saw Lula waving her gun around like a lunatic and Misty grabbing her arm her arm trying to drag her out of the room through the crack.

_Shit! _ I panicked.

I heard a loud metal pop and something hit me in the arm. I looked down to see what hit me and noticed the metal staircase was slowly pulling away from the wall and the bolts were literally hanging by a thread. I began descending down the metal staircase as I felt it swaying and pulling further away from the wall. I made it to the second floor before the fire escape came crashing to the ground. I landed on my side before jumping up and seeing Lula and Misty booking out of the building.

Lula shouted back at me, "Every woman for themselves! We're getting the hell out of dodge!"

I had never seen a woman of her size run as fast as she did and she was absolutely right about being able to run in those shoes. It was an amazing feat.

"What was that noise?" I heard shouting from behind me.

I spun around and saw the group of angry men in blue staring straight at me and pointing. "That's the bitch!" the Blue Devil shouted pointing at me.

_Fuck!_ Of course I had to be looking all conspicuous beside a crumpled up fire escape underneath of the only working street lamp on Stark.

"Hey, what are you doing out here?" another angry voice shouted at me coming from the front door of the building.

_Damn it!_ I hauled my ass down the street and kept running in the opposite direction of the car. What? So, I panicked and wasn't thinking. I could hear shouting from the distance and heavy footsteps following me. I kept running in the opposite direction. My heart was pounding hard in my chest trying to get my legs to take me as fast and as far as they could take me.

I had no clue where I was running to. I didn't know this neighborhood and on our walk to the building, I hadn't paid attention to where Lula was leading me. I wished that I had spent the time to get used to running like Ranger had tried to train me. I ran for a good several blocks through backyards, leaping over lawn chairs, bushes and miscellaneous lawn ornaments.

I tripped over a brick rounding the corner of an abandoned house landing hard on my knee. I felt a couple of large figures approaching me. I stumbled back onto my feet.

"Stay back. I have a gun and I'm not afraid to use it!" I shouted pulling my handgun from my purse. My hands were shaking uncontrollably and I feared that the men wouldn't stop pursuing me.

"I said stay back!" I screeched hurling the gun towards the black shadowy figures and swung my purse and connected with something hard.

I heard a loud crack and then a deep groan from one of the figures as he dropped to the ground.

"Alyssa!" the other shadow barked.

"Tank?" I said slowly recognizing the voice.

He shined the flashlight in my face. I looked down beside him as my eyes focused and I saw Ranger's man that looked like a Stegosaurus on his knees with his hand covering his bloody nose.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" I ran to him placing my hand on his cheek. "I didn't know it was you. I-I just reacted."

Tank picked up my pistol off of the ground and studied it, "Little Girl, did you just throw you gun at your possible assailant?"

"Ranger told me I had to carry it around. I panicked."

"What if your assailant picked up your gun and used it against you," he replied checking the gun. "Little Girl, your gun's not even loaded. Why are you carrying around an unloaded gun?"

"Ranger, told me to carry it. He never told me I had to keep it loaded. It worked didn't it. Look at Hal, here. He's living proof that my tactics work. I took out my assailant," I said proudly.

Tank shook his head and pulled me to my feet.

"I told you to call me."

"I didn't want to bother you."

"So you put yourself in danger because you didn't want to bother me?" he gave me a pointed look.

I shrugged, "What's it to you anyways? You don't even know me. Why would you feel the need to protect me? I can handle myself just fine."

"Ranger has ordered us to keep an eye on you and that's exactly what we'll do."

I rolled my eyes at him grabbing my gun out of his hand and shoving it back into my purse. I was still sore at Ranger's dismissal of me the other night. And he now that he was in the "wind" he was fucking leaving babysitters with me? I walked over to Hal and placed my hand on his arm, "Are you sure you're ok? I'm really truly sorry."

He nodded his head, "I'm fine."

I placed a kiss on the cheek causing his face to erupt like a burning volcano. It was interesting to see such a large overgrown man blush from a simple peck on the cheek. "Speaking of Ranger, do you know where he is?"

Tank just nodded.

"Care to enlighten me, Big Guy?"

He gave me a blank stare.

"Fine, whatever." I heard voices from the distance. "I gotta go," I said quickly to Tank.

"Do you even know where you are, Little Girl?" Tank challenged me.

I looked around. No, I didn't have the foggiest clue as to where I had ended up. Everything was dark and all of the houses looked alike to me. "Yes, I do," I replied stubbornly. "I'm parked about five blocks that way," I pointed out randomly.

He continued giving me the blank look. I hated the look on Ranger and now I'm realizing I hated the look on Tank as well. "Come on, Little Girl. Our car's around the block, you just pointed towards the river," he replied placing his massive hand on my shoulder and steered me towards the street.

I don't know why Tank started referring to me as "Little Girl" but when he said it, it felt like an older brother talking to his younger sister. I don't know why I felt safe with this monstrously large man but without Ranger's presence, Tank made me feel well taken care of. He led me to the passenger side of his black SUV and Hal climbed into the back seat.

I turned around, "Are you sure you're going to be ok? Maybe we should take you to the hospital."

"He'll be fine," Tank replied for Hal.

Minutes later we had pulled up behind my car which had shattered glass lying all around it on the ground. The Datsun had taken a nice beating. Not a single piece of glass on my car was intact and to top it off, the hood was spray painted with the words: Die Bitch.

"Why does it always have to be the car?" I shouted kicking the side of my tire. I could hear sirens in the distance heading in our direction. I turned and scrunched my nose.

"I called the police after the gun shots were heard," Tank answered my thoughts.

Carl stepped out of the black and white and approached us, "Wow, Alyssa. Doesn't look like you torched this one but they sure did a number on it."

"Officer Costanza, you weren't called here for your colorful comments. A man was beaten and shot on the other side of that ally," I pointed.

"What happened to the fire escape?"

"Um…I broke it," I replied sheepishly.

He grinned and shouted instructions to the other men in uniform. "You sure get yourself into some predicaments," he said leaning into my ear. "Is it 'cause Morelli's not enough fun in the sack that you need to go find yourself some excitement elsewhere?"

I shoved him back angrily, "You better watch yourself, Carl. Or I'll start spreading across the precinct of your little incident spring semester of junior year."

Terror tapped down on his face, "You wouldn't!"

"I would," I smiled devilishly. "So you better start being my best friend and treating me like a queen."

Big Dog was inspecting my car while Carl took down my statement of what I had witnessed as a Joe's car raced onto the scene. He stepped out of the car looking like he's seen better days and rushed up to me and grabbed my arms.

"What the hell are you doing out here on Stark at this time of night?"

Carl pulled away from us and took Tank and Hal's statements over by the squad car.

"Buying some hair," I replied calmly.

"What?" he barked and ran his hand down his face.

"Misty wanted to investigate since she felt like you and the TPD were not taking her case seriously. So we found out that there was a black market down here on Stark."

"Cupcake, you're giving me heartburn. How did you end up becoming a witness to a murder and what the hell happened to your car? Didn't you just buy it this morning?"

"I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. _OR_ maybe I happened to be at the right place at the right time," I corrected myself. "Depends on how you look at it, ya know. At least you know who killed that man. It was the Blue Devil and The Slayers. I saw them with my own eyes."

"Why can't you just leave this to the police?"

"I didn't ask to be a witness to a murder and I certainly didn't ask to have my car vandalized. These things just happen."

"They seem to happen to you quite often, Cupcake."

"You know what, Joe? I'm not in the mood to argue with you. I'm tired and I just want to go home."

His expression softened slightly, "I don't want to fight. I'm sorry. I'm glad that you're safe. Let me take you home."

I shook my head and shouted at Big Dog, "Big Dog, is there anything wrong with my car?"

He gave me a confused look, "You mean besides the fact that you no longer have any windows and the graffiti?"

"Yeah," I replied impatiently.

"No, it's drivable. It looks like it was just vandalized. There isn't any kind of explosive devices attached to the vehicle or tampering under the hood."

"Oh well what a relief," I said sarcastically. "I've given my statement to Carl, Big Dog has cleared my car, so if you don't mind Officer Morelli, I'd like to go home now."

"I'd feel safer if you let me drive you home."

"No, Big Dog just said my stupid car was drivable, so I'm driving the hunk of junk home. Plus, you can't pull away from a crime scene. The Blue Devil is your case. I'll be fine."

"I'll get you home safe and come back within minutes. I insist—"

"—No," I replied firmly.

He let out a big sigh, "Fine. I know better than to get into a pissing match with you. Please be careful. At least meet me for lunch tomorrow?"

I nodded, "Pino's at noon. Oh and tell Tank and Hal that I said goodbye," I cranked the engine and sputtered down the street.

I reached my apartment parking lot and walked over to the SUV as Tank was getting out. Tank had followed me all the way home leaving two car widths between us at all times.

"You're not very good at tailing discreetly. I saw you guys following me."

"My intention wasn't to be discreet. It was to make sure you got home safely."

I rolled my eyes, "Thanks but you can tell Ranger, I don't need babysitters and to shove his concern up his ass. Anyways, thanks for the help today."

I turned to walk towards the apartment; Tank reached out and stopped me. "I'm coming up with you to make sure everything's clear."

"Uh, I don't think that's necessary. You should get Hal taken care of."

He gave me his blank serious look.

"Fine," I gave in. I ducked my head through the SUV, "Good night, Hal. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

He blushed, "You don't need to. Have a good night, Bomber."

I scrunched my nose at the nickname. It was catching on way too quickly.


	13. Chapter 13

_**Previous Chapter: **__"Uh, I don't think that's necessary. You should get Hal taken care of."_

_ He gave me his blank serious look._

_ "Fine," I gave in. I ducked my head through the SUV, "Good night, Hal. I'll make it up to you, I promise."_

_ He blushed, "You don't need to. Have a good night, Bomber."_

_ I scrunched my nose at the nickname. It was catching on way too quickly._

* * *

><p>CHAPTER 13<p>

"So the woman introduced herself to Lula as Beatrice," Misty said taking a bite of her salad. "I swear to you, Alyssa, she was selling Lula _my_ hair!"

"Uh huh," I responded taking a bite of my meatball sub. I slammed my hand on the table, "God…best meatball sub ever!"

Everyone in the restaurant stopped to look at me.

"What?" I cried out defensively. "David makes the best meatball subs in town. It's a known fact!"

And it was the truth. It was around the corner from my apartment. So, it was needless to say, my diet consisted mostly of Pino's. David Pino stepped out from behind the counter and pulled me to my feet giving me a colossal kiss on both of my cheeks, "Bella! You react this way every time you come here."

"David, that's because every bite gets better each time! What do you do? Put crack in the sauce?" I expressed.

David let out a full-bellied robust laugh, "Bella, you are going to make a fine wife for some lucky man."

"I hope that's not a proposal," a voice teased from behind David.

"Ah, Joseph," David gave Joe a hug. "I will leave you to the beautiful ladies. Please send my regards to your family."

Joe slid into the seat next to me.

I looked up at him, "Hi."

"Cupcake," he smiled placing his hand on my thigh and gave it a squeeze. "You going to finish that," he said pointing at my sub.

I growled angrily at him and took a big bite.

"Ok, I won't touch your sandwich," He chuckled raising his hands and motioned to the server to put in an order for him.

"You came just in time. Misty was just about to tell me about what happened at the black market on Stark last night."

"Misty was there last night too?" he asked shocked.

"Yeah she and Lula took off after the shots were fired."

"Wait, who's Lula and why didn't you run with them?"

"Lula's a hooker we met on Comstock. I was taking watch outside while they were inside and I kind of was under a broken fire escape when they came running out. I just ran and it happened to be in the opposite direction."

I could feel the muscles in his body stiffen as I continued the story of how we ended up on Stark and our conversation with Lula and how we ended up at Stark leading up before Lula and Misty were chased out of the building.

"I can't believe you two went down to Stark alone at night. Do you know how dangerous Stark is?" Joe put on his serious voice.

"Anyways," Misty continued rolling her eyes, "I told Lula that the woman, Beatrice, was trying to sell us my actual hair. So Lula tried to grab it out of the woman's hand and demanded that she give it back to us. Then the woman called her a fat bitch. Lula went crazy and pulled her gun out of her purse and it fired off a round by accident. So that's when everyone pulled out their guns and we high-tailed it out of there.

"Sorry we didn't wait up for you, Alyssa, but it was one of those moments where everything was moving so fast and we didn't know if you had run already since you were in plain view. But long story short, we got out of there as quickly as possible. But I know what the woman looks like now and I have a first name," Misty said proudly.

"Let me know when you want me to come down and view some photos to identify the criminal, Morelli," Misty said polishing off the last of her salad.

"There's not much to go off of, Misty, but I'll look into it. We've actually had a number of calls in the last few days with the same kind of attacks. So we will be looking into it further but I still can't make any promises."

"Well, since we practically did your job for you, we might as well continue with the investigation, right Alyssa?"

"Sure, Mis," I replied.

"Misty, I said I would look into it further. You ladies need to leave this to the professionals."

"Whatever," Misty dismissed him. "You wouldn't have any leads on this case if it wasn't for us," she stood up and grabbed her purse, "Morelli, you can pay for my meal. It's the least you can do since my tax money pays your salary yet I have to investigate my own attack. I'll talk to you later, Alyssa. I have a yoga class to get to."

"Cupcake, you girls should leave this alone and let us do our jobs. You could've gotten yourselves killed last night. And now you're running around with a hooker."

"The _hooker's_ name is Lula, and she's a nice person. There's something else I wanted to talk to you about but I think we should go back to my apartment to discuss."

He nodded finishing the last bite of his sub and tossing a few bills on the table, "Good idea, but we're going to my place. I haven't been home all night and I need to check on Bob."

"Bob?"

"My dog."

"I didn't know you had a dog," I smiled.

"Of course, the ladies love dogs," he grinned.

I punched him in the arm as he pushed me out the door towards his truck.

Joe's house was a quaint little two story single family home fitted with a large backyard off of Slater which was deep in the suburbs of the Burg — perfect for raising a small family. I wouldn't have in a million years imagined an eligible bachelor, such as Joe, to be living in a house like this.

"Nice house," I admired stepping up behind him as he unlocked the front door.

"I inherited from my Aunt Rose not too long ago. It's not my first choice of residence but who can complain when someone gives you a house to live in? I'm still making some renovations to the house," he replied pushing the door open.

A large ball of orange fur came charging towards the door knocking me down to the ground showering me with wet sloppy kisses.

I began giggling, "You must be Bob. It's very nice to meet your acquaintance." I gave Bob a big hug.

He whipped his tail back and forth licking my face hungrily.

"Bob, down!" Joe commanded.

Bob hopped off of me and dashed into the front yard and did his business.

"Oh, Joe. I love him!" I gushed as Joe pulled me to my feet.

"I'm hurt that you would say you love Bob before you even declare those words to me," he teased before planting a kiss on my lips. He pulled me through the door shutting the door right as Bob bounded back into the house. "Let me give you the tour of the master bedroom," he flirted viciously kissing down my neck while sliding his hand into my shirt.

"Joe," I giggled pushing him away. "I need to tell you something serious first."

"It can wait," he said throwing me over his shoulder and began climbing the stairs.

"Joe!" I squeaked pounding on his back with my fists.

He slapped my ass as he tossed me down onto the bed before climbing on top of me. "And this is the first stop of the grand tour — the master bedroom where all of the magic happens."

I scrunched my nose at the thought of all of the _magic_ that may have occurred in this bed after hearing about the Morelli reputation.

"Cupcake," he said kissing my nose, "you're the first woman who isn't my family that I've brought here."

"Oh," I blushed.

I looked over at the open window and quickly sat up slamming my head into his.

"Ow!" I slapped my hand to my forehead.

"Jesus!" he cursed.

"Sorry," I muttered.

"I need to start wearing a helmet around you. What's wrong, Cupcake?" he asked rubbing his head.

"It's broad daylight, Joe, and you don't even have any curtains."

He gave me a sheepish grin, "I haven't been home enough to tackle those little home decorating details. Besides my neighbors are just getting out of church at this time. Nobody will see us," he said sliding his hand up my shirt.

"But—"

He closed his mouth onto mine and I got lost in his warm sweet kisses.

_**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**_

The sun had gone down several hours later. I propped my head up on my clasped hands on top of Joe's chest. I had just finished telling him about Benito Ramirez's threats and the Slayers gang contract out on me.

The browns of his eyes darkened taking in my words quietly — quietly being the operative word after I had made him promise not to utter a word until I finished everything I had to say. I could feel every muscle in his body tighten under me as I continued spilling everything to him.

"So, that's it. I just wanted you to be aware with what was going on."

He didn't move a muscle. An awkward silence filled the air; his eyes were filled with pure intensity that if I hadn't known him any better, I may have been scared.

"Joe? Please say something," I pleaded.

There was still no response.

So I did what came naturally to me. I opened my mouth to yell at him but before I could get the words out of my mouth he flipped onto my back and pressed into me with a hard kiss. He fisted his hand into my hair and held my head possessively, "Cupcake, why didn't you tell me any of this sooner?"

"I-I didn't think anything of it. I just went about everything like it was a typical crazy day."

"It's that job of yours," he clenched his teeth.

"Joe, please don't start with that again. I don't want to fight," I pulled him in and kissed him softly on the lips.

He responded positively as I could feel his excitement growing between my thighs. "At least we have a name and face to your Blue Devil now so we have a place to start on flushing out The Slayers."

"Have I told you how sexy it is when you talk cop-talk. It's such a turn on," I teased sarcastically.

"I'll give you something to be turned on about," he growled devouring my neck.

This male specimen was pure testosterone. It was incredible that he could keep up his libido while talking about gangsters and murders.

"I don't want you staying alone while there's a hit out on you and you're on Ramirez's radar," his tongue circled my hardened nipple.

"Joe," I gasped trying to regain control of my voice, "where do you suppose I stay if I can't be alone?"

"Here," he bit down.

I grasped onto the bed sheets. "I don't think that's a good idea," my voice quivered.

"I happen to think it's an excellent idea," he smiled sliding into me. "Besides, we'll have all kinds of fun. I have a feeling you would be an excellent roommate."

The thoughts of cohabitating with Joe Morelli flooded my head. I don't know how if I'd be able to survive it and if I was willing to even move that quickly with him. I know he was merely suggesting it for my protection but we haven't even established what our relationship was and if we even had a relationship.

I pushed him off of me.

"Cupcake," he said in a hurt voice.

"I said I don't think it's a good idea, Joe. And I don't want to lie in this bed for several more hours. I'm hungry. You need to feed me," my stomach gurgled as if on cue.

"Ok, we'll get you fed. Need to make sure you're well-fueled," he grinned tapping me on the nose. "And there's no arguing, you're in danger so you'll stay here until it passes."

Heat flushed through my body, "This is the exact reason why I didn't want to tell you, Joe! I don't need you telling me what I can and cannot do. I can take care of myself. I don't need you locking me up like a caged bird at every sign of trouble."

The warmth from his eyes subsided and was replaced with pure Italian male-egotism, "Stop with the Xena Warrior Princess attitude, Alyssa. This is no game. The Slayers are a notoriously dangerous gang in these parts and Ramirez has a very bad reputation. I don't feel comfortable with you being in your apartment alone at night. Plus to top things off, you're a witness to a murder now."

"Ramirez has only been sending me flowers and leaving harmless messages on my answering machine. He hasn't done anything, so I'm not concerned."

"They may be harmless threats right now, Alyssa, but they can turn very real at any given moment."

I don't know why I felt the need to always fight with Joe, but there was just something that he did that always ended up getting a rise out of me. "Look, I think I should be getting home now. It's getting late and I have to work in the morning which I'm sure you do too. I'm not in the mood to argue with you."

He relaxed his muscles. "Alyssa, I'm just worried about you and I just want to keep you safe. You can't blame me for that," he pulled me into him and kissed me gently. "I care about you."

I pulled back and looked into his concern-filled eyes, "I—"

He planted another kiss on my lips to keep me from speaking further, "Please don't. At least let me take care of you tonight. If you decide that it's not going to work out after tonight then we'll find a compromising solution. Ok?"

I nodded silently. He pulled me into his arms and hugged me tightly to his body.

My stomach made an awful noise causing Joe to pull away from me. "Let's feed that beast of yours," he chuckled getting to his feet.

I grabbed his hand and pulled him back down onto the bed and wrapped my arms around his neck and gave him an appreciative kiss.

"Thank you for caring about me," I smiled.

"I wouldn't be able to _not_ care even if I wanted to, Cupcake," he kissed my nose.


	14. Chapter 14

_**Previous Chapter: **__He planted another kiss on my lips to keep me from speaking further, "Please don't. At least let me take care of you tonight. If you decide that it's not going to work out after tonight then we'll find a compromising solution. Ok?"_

_ I nodded silently. He pulled me into his arms and hugged me tightly to his body._

_ My stomach made an awful noise causing Joe to pull away from me. "Let's feed that beast of yours," he chuckled getting to his feet._

_ I grabbed his hand and pulled him back down onto the bed and wrapped my arms around his neck and gave him an appreciative kiss._

_ "Thank you for caring about me," I smiled._

_ "I wouldn't be able to not care even if I wanted to, Cupcake," he kissed my nose._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 14<strong>

The sun beamed down on me through the open window. I forced my eyes open and stretched my arms above my head and took in the view of a pair of jeans that was hugging a pair of nicely toned butt cheeks.

I smiled as I tried to untangle myself from the sheets but was stopped by Joe pushing me back down into bed. "Cupcake, stay. It's still early. I have an early meeting which shouldn't be more than an hour and I'll come back to take you back to your apartment," he kissed my earlobe.

"Mmm…" I moaned. "Ok."

"Good," he smiled. "I put out a towel out for you in the bathroom. Make yourself at home. I fed and walked Bob already so you don't need to worry about him. I'll be back soon," he kissed the top of my head.

I grabbed his shirt and pulled him back down into the bed as he pulled away. Rolling him onto his back, I straddled him and smiled. "Are you sure you have to go at this moment?" I asked coyly.

"Cupcake," he flipped me to my back pinning me down and spreading my legs. "If it wasn't for this damn meeting, I would devour you right now," he scowled running his hand up my thigh.

I giggled, "You better go then before you end up being late."

He growled, "You drive me fucking insane." He grinded up against me and kissed me hungrily before reluctantly pulling away.

I heard the door slam behind him. I planted a ridiculous grin on my face and pressed my face into his pillow and took a deep breath. So is this what domestic bliss is supposed to feel like? Because I think I could get used to it.

I got up and pulled on one of Joe's button down shirts and headed downstairs for some much needed coffee when a knock came from the front door. I smiled pulling the door open, "Did you forget your keys—"

I stopped short at the sight of two pristinely dressed elderly women standing in front of me.

"Who are you?" the middle-aged woman demanded. "Where's my Joseph?"

"H-he just left for work," I stuttered.

"Are you going to let us in or you going to stand in the doorway so that the whole neighborhood can see your unbecoming state?" the older woman barked.

"I-I'm so sorry. Please come in," I stepped aside suddenly feeling incredibly naked.

"Y-you must be Joe's mother and grandmother?" I deduced.

"You know who we are but you still haven't answered the question as to who you are and why you're standing half naked in my son's living room."

"I-I apologize. My name is Alyssa Chau," I stuck my hand out towards Joe's mother.

She looked at my hand as if it was a serpent's tentacle.

"I'm a — _friend_ of Joe's," I said slowly pulling my hand back and nervously ran my fingers through my hair.

"That awful bombing bounty hunter that's constantly in the news? And didn't you recently kill someone?" Joe's mom gaped.

"I-I didn't kill anyone! He was trying to kill me," I protested.

"What kind of girl would stay in a man's home half naked when she's not married to him," Joe's grandmother sneered. "He hasn't even introduced you much less mentioned you to his own family."

I felt a soft stab in my heart realizing that Joe's never once mentioned me to his family. He doesn't like to show his affection in public but it's probably just because it's too early for us to really delve into anything too committal or serious.

"Joe and I have only really known each other for a little over a month."

"Our Joseph was probably too embarrassed to mention his involvement with an amateur Bounty Hunter that makes him look bad in front of the rest of the police force. And to top the icing on the cake, she's an oriental."

"Excuse me?" my ears quirked.

"You heard me. You're a no good oriental. My Joseph is to marry a nice young Catholic Italian girl. Look at you. You're not even fit to bear a Morelli child. How do you expect to give birth with hips like those," she said pinching my bottom.

I jumped back defensively. "First of all, I am not a rug," I replied sternly to the "oriental" remark. "Secondly, I'm not anywhere close to having children with Joe at this time in our relationship."

"Relationship?" Joe's mother cried out fanning herself with her hand.

I hope I wasn't overstepping labeling the fact that Joe and I were in some sort of relationship. But I wasn't in my right mind to be thinking politically correct ways to address what we currently had.

"Mrs. Morelli, as I stated earlier, Joe has just left for work. Would you like me to relay a message to him for you? It would be my absolute pleasure," I said as politely as I could to keep myself from ripping into the old ladies. I'm not one to be disrespectful to my elders but these women knew nothing about me and the hateful things they were spewing was enough to make me forget my manners.

"What would your parents think of you whoring yourself around the way you are?" Joe's grandmother accused.

"I wouldn't know, ma'am, both of my parents are dead," I replied without blinking.

She clutched her chest dramatically, "You're an orphan girl with no foundation. It's obvious now why you are a girl with no morals or manners."

I bit back my rage and maintained my composure, "I was invited here by Joe and was asked to be here, and if you don't mind, I need to get ready to start my day. I will be sure to let Joe know that you've so kindly stopped by to check up on him," I opened the door.

"Well, I never!" Joe's mother expressed as she stepped out the door.

Joe's grandmother stopped in front of me before she left. "You watch your back, China Girl, or I will put the eye on you," she pointed to her eye before stepping out of the door.

I slammed the door and ran for the phone. "Misty, where are you?"

"On my way to work, you ok?"

I sniffed, "I'm at Joe's do you think you can pick me up?"

"Of course! What did the asshole do?"

"He didn't do anything. He drove me here yesterday after lunch at Pino's so I don't have my car. I just want to go home right now."

"Give me the address and I'll be there in ten."

"1920 Slaters Lane."

_Click._

_**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**_

"Shit, Alyssa. I don't envy you. Angie Morelli is the definition of the 'Burg housewife.' She does everything to perfection and Joe is her youngest so you know she has nothing but high expectations for him. So, hell hath no fury if you cross paths with her and _her Joseph_. As for his Grandma Bella, she's a kook. I've heard about _the eye, _but fortunately, I've never been on the receiving end of it. Rumor has it that she can see glimpses of the future and place curses on you with _the eye._

"Rumor has it that she put _the eye_ on Bob 'the butcher' because he sold the last of his prime cut steaks to the customer before her and all of his hair fell out within the week. You know I usually don't believe in that kind of crap but Grandma Bella is one scary broad."

"Thanks, Mis. You've made me feel so much better," I replied sarcastically.

"Just telling you like it is. Wouldn't want you to accidentally piss her off or anything, but what those two said to you was definitely uncalled for. Just give me the word, eye or no eye, I'll help you kick their sorry asses. Nobody treats my girl like that."

I smiled at my friend, "Thanks, Misty."

"Anyways, there's no way that you are going to be alone today to wallow in your sorrows so I'm going to spend the day with you!"

"But don't you have to get to the office?"

"Nope. I told them I'd be out at meetings all day, so I'm all yours."

I rolled my eyes, "But Misty, I have to work today. My bills don't pay themselves."

"Even better. I'll be your backup today and I'll get to see you in action! Also, we can swing by Comstock to talk to Lula. I have a feeling she knew who the hair lady was but with all of the commotion I never got to talk to her about it."

Knowing Misty, once she's got her mind set on something there's no way of changing her mind. So there was no point for me to even fight it.

"Fine but we'll have to pick up my car because there's no way we can pick up skips in yours."

"Roger that, Boss."

* * *

><p><em>Sorry for the short chapter. Couldn't find a better place to break at. I'll post more tmw. -Angie<em>


	15. Chapter 15

_**Previous Chapter: **__"Even better. I'll be your backup today and I'll get to see you in action! Also, we can swing by Comstock to talk to Lula. I have a feeling she knew who the hair lady was but with all of the commotion I never got to talk to her about it."_

_Knowing Misty, once she's got her mind set on something there's no way of changing her mind. So there was no point for me to even fight it. _

"_Fine but we'll have to pick up my car because there's no way we can pick up skips in yours."_

"_Roger that, Boss."_

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 15<strong>

It was already late afternoon and Misty has been a tremendous help with the three new skips we got from Connie this morning. The men followed Misty out to the car like lovesick puppies on both individual pickups. If she had asked them to slap on the handcuffs themselves, they would've obliged. Everything came so easy for Misty. Sometimes it was a chore for me to try and not be envious of her success, brooding good looks, and magnetic personality.

All of the cops at the precinct ogled her when we dropped off the skips at the station. Joe called me earlier after we left the bonds office asking where I was. Not really in the mood to speak with him, I kept the conversation short letting him know that I had Misty pick me up because I had a busy work day ahead of me. He, thankfully, didn't question me any further and let it at that.

"Boy, that was fun. I can see why you fight so much with Morelli to keep this job. It's a different excitement with each creep," Misty exclaimed as I pulled up on Comstock at Lula and Candy's corner.

A loud cry pierced my ears as my head jerked up. Candy was being manhandled by a bald meathead. I instinctively jumped out of the car and ran towards her. "Let her go!" I shouted.

Still holding onto Candy's hair, he turned to see who was yelling at him. I charged at him and threw my entire body weight into his body knocking him off balanced probably not because of my actual strength but because of the fact that he was caught off guard.

"Mind your own business, bitch," he snarled at me.

"She is my business," I kicked him hard in the shin.

He released Candy's hair and dropped to one knee. "You're going to be sorry for that."

Misty caught up to us as I grabbed Candy's arm and swung her in Misty's direction.

"Run," I shouted to them.

I turned to follow but _Meathead_ grabbed my wrist preventing me from budging. I shoved my free hand into my purse in search for any kind of weapon. _Meathead_ slammed me against the brick wall as my hand connected on a small roundish object. I yanked it out of the purse – cell phone. I held down one of the buttons hoping that whoever was programmed to that speed dial would answer. I waited a few seconds before putting it on speaker.

"Yo."

"HELP!" I cried out loudly before _Meathead_ knocked the phone out of my hand and punched me in the stomach.

"Who the fuck are you and what are you doing in my territory?" he pressed his face up against mine. He reeked of three day old stale cheap cologne.

"I'm someone who's not afraid of you," I slammed my head into his.

Fuck, that hurt! They make it seem so easy in the movies. _Meathead_ seemed to be the kind of man that fed off of other's fears. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing the fear in my eyes.

"Bitch, when I'm through with you, you'll be crying like a baby begging for me to stop. You'll be sorry you got involved," he shoved me back into the wall and pulled his fist back.

I opened my eyes wide and fixed it on his and smiled, "I wouldn't bother wasting any tears on a meathead like you. The only person who'll be sorry here is you. Because you obviously don't know who you're messing with—"

_Meathead_ drove his fist towards my face but it never connected. He was pulled off by a large dinosaur in black — _Hal_! He punched _Meathead_ in the jaw and swiftly kneed him in the gut bringing him to his hands and knees.

"Who the fuck are _you_!" he groaned.

Hal didn't utter a word instead he swung his foot out and gave _Meathead_ another quick kick in the chin sending him backwards. _Meathead_ stumbled to his feet and took off in the opposite direction. Hal turned and looked at me with his bandaged nose and bruised eye courtesy of my Smith & Wesson .38 Special revolver. He had a blank look slammed on his face as he assessed me with his eyes probably seeing if there was any damage done to me by _Meathead_. I ran over and threw my arms aroundhis non-existent neck and gave him a hard kiss on the cheek.

"I'm seriously really starting to feel like chopped liver. Do I smell or something? Beautiful, you're not doing anything to help out my ego," a voice called from behind me.

I turned around and faced Santos wearing his signature goofy smile. "Sorry I didn't even notice you there."

"Ouch," he clutched his chest dramatically.

"How did you know I was here?" I asked Hal.

"You called Tank, and we were in the area so we came to help."

"How did he even know what area I was located?" I asked curiously because the only thing I shouted was "help."

Both men threw on a blank face and grew silent.

"Whatever," I muttered. "I don't care."

I drew in a deep breath and smiled hugging Hal again, "Thank you, Hal. You're my knight in shining armor. I'm in debt to you and I still owe you for your poor nose," I lowered my eyes in shame.

"No problem, Bomber," he replied shyly.

"You know I'm much better looking than this big oaf, here, and yet she's all over him," Santos cried in disgust pulling _Meathead _to his feet.

"Hal is a very good looking man besides I didn't see you beating the crap out of _Meathead_ over there. In fact, I didn't see you doing much of anything."

"That's 'cause we drew straws as to who was going to rescue the Bombshell Bounty Hunter and Hal won so I had to play backup."

I rolled my eyes.

"What are you doing here alone anyways? Didn't Tank instruct you to call him and you agreed."

"I did call him and — shit!" I slapped my head, "Misty and Candy!"

I ran off in the direction Misty and Candy too off towards. About a block away, I spotted the two sitting on the steps of a brown brick building. "Are you two ok?" I panted.

"You shouldn't have done that," Candy said expressionless.

"Candy, I don't know who he was but no one has the right to treat anybody that way."

"I'm a hooker," she said blankly.

"You're a human being," I replied pointedly.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"It was my pleasure. I'm just glad we got here when we did. By the way, where's Lula?"

"She with a client," Candy replied.

"Oh."

"Candy told me that Lula told her that she knows the woman who attacked me. Her name is Beatrice Potts and she's the owner of Lovely Locks. So now we have a full name to go to the police with!" Misty exclaimed.

"But we don't have proof."

"We will," Misty replied with a conniving smile.

"Oh and one more thing," Candy spoke up. "_The Champ_ was asking us questions the other day about you and what you were talking to us about. You should be careful. He cuts up women."

I nodded, "I know. I'm sorry if I've gotten you inadvertently involved."

She shrugged, "I put my life at risk everyday with what I do. This is nothing different. It's not like my life is worth much of anything anyways."

"That's not true, Candy! You're a beautiful girl and I'm sure you could amount to so much more if you tried."

She shook her head, "I need to go. I'm losing money sitting here with you girls."

"Thanks for the heads up on Ramirez, Candy, and for passing on the information from Lula," I pulled a couple bills out of my bag and handed it to her.

"Thanks," she said walking back to her street corner.

"You're more than just beautiful on the outside but you're beautiful on the inside too."

I jumped back startled, "Shit Santos! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"I was standing behind you the whole time. Didn't you notice?" he smiled.

"Whatever, next time make some noise. Let's go, Misty. I have one more skip to pick up," I grabbed her elbow and dragged her away while she made eyes at Santos.

"Can't it wait a little," she pouted playfully.

I rolled my eyes. We all walked back to my car and instantly I felt like something was off — like my doors. "What the fuck?" I screamed running towards the POS car. "Someone jacked my doors!"

I heard a rumble of laughter approach me, "There's never a dull moment with you, Beautiful."

I swatted him in the arm, "Shut up. What would anyone what with those piece of crap doors anyways!"

"We can give you a ride," Hal said solemnly.

I simmered my temper down, "Thanks, Hal. But the car's still driveable. We'll just make sure to buckle in real tight," I sighed.

"Do you need help with your skip?" he asked softly.

I gave him a kiss on the cheek, "No, he's a chicken. And I mean literally a chicken. We can handle him. What did you do with Meathead?"

"Hal had a nice man-to-man talk to him about the appropriate treatment of women and sent him on his way," Santos replied solemnly.

"Thanks again for the help, boys," I said stepping into the car.

"Anytime, Beautiful. It's a great pleasure to be a service to you," Santos winked.

I scrunched my nose at him, cranked the engine and took off.

"So what are you going to do with the information you just got about the woman who attacked you?" I asked Misty.

"I have something in mind." I could see the hamster wheels turning in her head.

"Misty, do I dare ask if you're going to tell the police about this?"

"I will…eventually. I have something planned first," she flashed a wicked smile.

"You can be scary sometimes."

"I know. So who's this next skip?"

"He works as _Clucky the Chicken_ at the Cluck in a Bucket on Harmon. We should be able to roll on up to him, grab him, and book it to the station. Problem is that he already knows what I look like and I let him get away, so you'll need to be the one to approach him."

"No problem! I'll distract him while you get the cuffs on him."

"Sounds like a plan. You're a great partner, Misty."

"I know. I've been told that many — and I mean _many_ times," she grinned.

I rolled my eyes.

_**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**_

I pulled the car up behind Clucky as he was handing some flyers to a couple passing through.

Misty sauntered up to Sizemore and flashed a flirtatious smile, "You know I've always wondered if doing it with a man in an animal costume would be classified as bestiality."

"Well, baby. I don't know about the classification but I'm willing to try it if you are," Sizemore flirted back stupidly falling for our trap.

I reached out and grabbed his arm and tried to snap the handcuff on it but the costume was too thick for the bracelet to wrap around.

"What the fu — YOU!" Sizemore bellowed turning towards me.

"Bill Sizemore, you've missed your court date and I'm here to bring you in," I stood my ground.

He lunged at me missing me by inches and slammed into the No Parking sign.

I kicked him in the back of the knee. Misty stepped up to him and slid her hand under his chicken head. There was a soft buzzing sound and Sizemore slumped to the ground.

Misty retracted her hand which was fashioned with a small stun gun.

"Why'd you do that for?"

"He was hostile," she replied, "and I'm in a hurry. I don't feel like chasing him down the street. Let's get him in the car. Can you drop me off at your place so I can pick up my car first? I have to take care of something."

"Ok," I responded hesitantly. Who is this woman I call my friend? First I find out that she carries a concealed and now she's keeps herself equipped with a stun gun as well? Why is it that everyone in Trenton is so much more prepared for bounty hunting takedowns than I am?

We stuffed Sizemore into the back of the car and headed towards the police station after dropping Misty off in the parking lot of my apartment complex. I heard Sizemore stirring in the seat behind me as I pulled into the station parking lot. A flurry of yellow feathers engulfed my face and pulled me tightly into my seat choking me.

"You fucking bitch," Sizemore snarled. "I would kill you right now if we weren't all instructed to leave you alive for Junkman."

"Freeze, let her go and step out of the car with your hands above your head," an authoritative voice commanded.

He released his grip from my neck after rasping, "You're as good as dead, Bounty Hunter." He stepped out of the car and did as instructed.

"You ok, Alyssa?" Carl asked leaning into me.

I nodded, "He knows about the contract, Carl."

Carl nodded taking in the information, "We'll make sure to question him. By the way, what happened to your doors?"

"They were in the way," I replied sarcastically.

He grinned at me, "You know you have so many violations with this car alone. You're lucky I don't write you up."

"I wouldn't be able to pay for it if you did. Plus I'd end up having to reveal some of your dirty secrets if you did."

"You're a dangerous woman, Alyssa Chau."

Nodding my head, "Yup and don't you forget it, Costanza."

"Morelli's on his way. You want to tell him or should I?"

"You tell him. I have somewhere to be. Be a friend and save my receipt for me?"

"Sure thing, Alyssa."

"Thanks, Carl," I shifted into drive and sped off as fast as the car good go. I looked in the mirror and saw Joe watching me drive away. I know what happened this morning wasn't his fault but I wasn't in the mood to discuss anything with him.

My phone rang seconds after I pulled away from the precinct but I sent the call straight to voicemail. The phone rang again, I grabbed it and bellowed, "What?"

"Alyssa?" a voice asked concerned.

Oh shit, it wasn't Morelli. "I'm sorry. You caught me in the middle of something."

"No, I'm sorry, if I caught you a bad time," Wes replied.

"No, no. It's fine. What can I do for you, Wes? Need me to kick someone's ass for you again?" I joked.

He chuckled, "Actually, I was wondering if you would like to accompany to watch some ass kicking. I have ring-side seats to tonight's boxing match. My good friend Benny is fighting Paulo from Miami."

None of that really meant anything to me but maybe I could get to Ramirez in a crowded public place and get him to stop bothering me. "I would love to accompany you, Wes. I've never been to a boxing match before. Is there a particular way I should dress for the occasion?"

"Sexy," he responded. "I'll come pick you up at seven for dinner first. I look forward to spending the evening with you, Alyssa."

"I look forward to it as well, Wes."

"Good-bye for now, Alyssa."

_Click._

Hmm…he had actual phone manners. I think I could get used to it.


	16. Chapter 16

_**Previous Chapter: **__None of that really meant anything to me but maybe I could get to Ramirez in a crowded public place and get him to stop bothering me. "I would love to accompany you, Wes. I've never been to a boxing match before. Is there a particular way I should dress for the occasion?"_

_ "Sexy," he responded. "I'll come pick you up at seven for dinner first. I look forward to spending the evening with you, Alyssa."_

_ "I look forward to it as well, Wes."_

_ "Good-bye for now, Alyssa."_

_ Click._

_ Hmm…he had actual phone manners. I think I could get used to it. _

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 16<strong>

Stratton wasn't kidding when he said that our seats were right where the action was. We were practically kissing the ring. Dinner had been pleasant with Stratton; he was not overly pushy and flirtatious as he had been during our past encounters. In fact, it felt like it was more of a date as he was trying to be a perfect gentleman in properly wooing me.

I suppose now that he knew that I wasn't just some random floozy that he picked up at a bar. And since I was trying to capture him for skipping on his bail, I wasn't just any other girl. We were on the sixth round of the match Ramirez vs. Paulo. And I hate to admit it, but I now see why he's called "The Champ." Ramirez was flawless in his skills and he was a total crowd pleaser. But that didn't make up for the fact that he was a deranged psychopath. I swear that he turned to me a few times and grinned. The match ended with Ramirez's victory. Stratton grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the curtains where the boxers emerged from before each match.

"Where are we going?" I asked him in a panic.

"To the locker room," he grinned. "It's not every day you get to meet celebrity athletes."

We stepped into the locker room which was filled with half naked muscle bounded men who all stopped to look at me as my whole body flushed red. I'm sure that I looked sunburnt against my modest knee length white cotton dress.

With Wes' hand still on my elbow guiding me, he made a streamline for the ogre-sized man in the back corner surrounded by cameras and reporters. Ramirez caught my gaze and smiled lifting his hand to the reporters indicating that he was done talking and made his way over to us.

Wes gave Ramirez a hearty slap on the back, "Great fight, man."

Ramirez smiled and grabbed my hand and brought it to his lips, "I hope that the little lady enjoyed what she saw as well."

I pulled my hand back and wrapped myself around Wes' arm, "It was certainly enlightening, Mr. Ramirez."

Wes' phone went off. He kissed me on the forehead after pulling the phone out of his pocket, "I need to get this. I'll be right back."

I watched Wes walk out of the locker room and turned back to Ramirez whose eyes were still fixated on me. I looked up at him and glared. "I need you to listen to me, Ramirez and I need you to listen good. You need to leave me the hell alone," I rasped quietly so the rest of the boxers couldn't hear.

He stepped back and barked, "I need everyone to leave! Now!"

I stood and watched every single person file out of the room leaving me alone in the lion's den. He took several swift steps towards me until I was backed into a locker. "Oh my dear, Alyssa," he said teasingly tracing his fingers along my jawline. "I've told you before that _The Champ_ doesn't like to be disrespected, but yet you don't seem to listen. And now you've gone and tried to break my heart by dating my best friend. It's not a very nice thing of you to do. But Stratton is a good friend of mine and he's going through a tough time right now. So, I'll let this slide," he said as he slid his finger down the side of my neck.

I ducked away from him and moved towards the middle of the room, "I'm not going to ask you again, Ramirez. You need to leave me alone or I will go to the cops and file a restraining order. I have several friends on the force. They won't look too kindly at the fact that you've been stalking me."

Ramirez took several steps towards me as Wes rushed into the room. "Alyssa, I'm so sorry but I'm going to have to cut our evening short. There's an emergency at the office that I must attend to."

"I can give Ms. Chau a ride home," Ramirez volunteered.

"That would be great, Benny. Thank you. Alyssa, are you ok with Benny giving you a ride?"

I shook my head, "It's ok. I can call a cab."

"Nonsense! You've been offered a personal ride with _The Champ. _It would be rude to decline such an honor," Stratton countered smiling.

He pulled me into an embrace and light kiss on the lips, "It seems that I'm always being interrupted when I'm with you. I'll call you so we can do this again sometime."

I nodded my head, "I had a good time, Wes. Thank you."

He turned and gave Ramirez a quick hand clasp and walked out. I shuffled my feet to move towards the exit but was caught by Ramierz's grip around my wrist.

"Where do you think you're going? You heard Stratton. It's rude to not accept my kind offer. In fact it's an honor," he pushed me down on the bench. "Sit here like a good girl while I grab my stuff," he walked back to his locker and grabbed a duffel bag out as I stood up to take off but Ramirez was faster.

He had a death grip on the back of my arm as he dragged me down the hall towards the back door which was being guarded by two large men dressed in black! My eyes danced with glee as I saw the most beautiful bald headed black man. I tore away from Ramirez's grip violently and dashed towards Tank. He had a hard blank look on his face as I threw myself at him and scurried behind his massive body.

"Alyssa, stop wasting time. We need to get going," Ramirez said sternly reaching out from my hand.

"I'm not going anywhere with you Ramirez," I seethed behind the security of Tank's massive body.

"Mr. Ramirez, you heard the lady. She doesn't want to leave with you. I think it's best that you leave her be," Tank's baritone voice boomed.

"You're not paid to think! Why do you keep getting in my way? Who is she to you?"

"My relationship to Ms. Chau is none of your concern, Mr. Ramirez. And my job is to keep everyone within the facility safe. And it seems to me that she feels her security is being compromised."

"You don't know who you're messing with," he jabbed Tank in the chest.

"Sir, please kindly remove your finger away from me or I will be forced to remove it for you."

Ramirez continued to jab him in the chest and with a swift fluid motion, Tank had his hands pinned behind his back as he opened the door and deposited Ramirez through them.

"I will make sure that you're fired along and your company loses the contract with the federation," Ramirez barked as he walked off.

"Oh shit," I muttered under my breath, "Ranger's going to kill me!" I began panicking. I just made Ranger's company lose a huge contract. I looked up at Tank whose blank face was slammed into place.

"Little girl, Ranger's good friends with the President. There's no need to worry. What are you doing here?" he gave me a hard look.

I gulped and slowly inched my way over to the other man in black and stood silently behind him.

"Little girl," Tank repeated himself in a more commanding voice.

Hal stepped to the side so that I was in full view of Tank with his arms crossed looking down at me disapprovingly.

"Thanks a lot, Hal," I muttered.

"Sorry, Bomber," he whispered.

I looked down at my feet. "I was, uh, kind of, uh, on a date with Stratton," I answered in a nearly inaudible voice.

"Why the hell would you be on a date with Stratton when you full well know he's good friends with Ramirez?"

"I-I thought that I would get the opportunity to tell Ramirez to leave me alone."

"So where did Stratton go."

"He had an emergency. So Ramirez volunteered to give me a ride."

"And I suppose he said he wouldn't leave you alone and Stratton doesn't know about his friend's obsession with you."

I stepped back behind Hal, and pushed my face into his back. "No. Can I go now?" I said through Hal's back. I felt like a child who was just caught with her hands in the cookie jar. And Mother Tank was very disappointed in me.

"Yes, I'll have someone drive you home."

"N-no. That's ok. I'll call Misty. She doesn't live too far from here." The last thing I needed was the Rangeman babysitting services and to cause Ranger any more problems.

I whipped out my phone and called Misty to pick me up while Hal found a chair for me. I sat next to Hal too terrified to look at Tank while I waited for my ride to come pick me up.


	17. Chapter 17

_**Previous Chapter: **__I stepped back behind Hal, and pushed my face into his back. "No. Can I go now?" I said through Hal's back. I felt like a child who was just caught with her hands in the cookie jar. And Mother Tank was very disappointed in me._

"_Yes, I'll have someone drive you home."_

"_N-no. That's ok. I'll call Misty. She doesn't live too far from here." The last thing I needed was the Rangeman babysitting services and to cause Ranger any more problems._

_I whipped out my phone and called Misty to pick me up while Hal found a chair for me. I sat next to Hal too terrified to look at Tank while I waited for my ride to come pick me up._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 17<strong>

I stumbled out of the elevator clumsily into my hallway. After Misty picked me up, she dragged me dragged me out to a nearby bar. She claimed she needed a girls' night out gab fest. Not being able to deny my friend anything, plus she was my ride home, I complied and got sloshed with her.

The lights in the hall flickered and before I even took two steps towards my door the lights went out. I felt around the hall and banged my knee against the wall.

"Damn it!" I cursed loudly rubbing my knee. The hallway was pitch black. There wasn't even a soft glow from the Exit sign that's supposed to be above the stairs which was not very comforting. I got the eerie sensation that I wasn't alone.

"Hello? Is somebody there?" I called out. "Mr. Woleski? Is that you?"

Silence.

Maybe I just watched too many horror flicks and was becoming oddly paranoid. I stayed close to the wall and felt my way down the hall. I slipped my hand into my purse and fumbled for my phone and clumsily let it slip out of my hand on the ground. I got down on my hands and knees feeling around for the phone.

When I found it I stood back up quickly to slide it open when a sharp piecing pain pinched my cheek right below my left eye as I felt a cold breeze and the sound of a soft _swish_. "Fuck!" I muttered loudly raising my hand to my cheek dropping my phone again. It felt wet.

"You stupid bitch. You'll pay for what you did," a low raspy menacing voice threatened inches from my face. I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman as the person was obviously trying to disguise their voice.

I leapt backwards. "Who's there? I have a gun!" I slurred.

I felt the vibrations of footsteps charging towards me as I swiftly moved to the other side of the hall way and let out a loud yelp as a cold object brushed against my left bicep.

"HELP! CALL POLICE!" I screamed loudly stumbling around in a zig zag trying to get away from my attacker. A show I was watching about when animals attack on _Animal Planet _once said that the best way to get away from an alligator in pursuit is to zig zag. Hey, it could work for when a crazed madman with the intent to obviously kill you too.

A flood of light came from the end of the hall as a door opened "What's going on out here?" the familiar sound of Mr. Woleski voice filled the air. "Who's out here?"

"Mr. Woleski, go back in apartment!" I shouted wildly.

"What?" he shouted back into the hallway. Great…the only person to hear my cries is an old half deaf man.

I heard some shuffling and a sudden loud _BOOM! _I felt a soft spray of dust mist around me as the lights flickered back on. The loud sound caused me to fall to my knees and throw my hands over my ears.

"Oh my god! Mr. Woleski, get back in your apartment and call the police," I screamed wildly over the ringing in my ears. I peeled my eyes open and saw Mr. Woleski in his bathroom, under garments and trouser socks holding a shot gun in front of him and no one else. I tilted my head up and saw a huge hole in the drywall above me.

Was I crazy? I swear someone attacking me. Or maybe this was some sort of insane dream where I was being haunted by an angry spirit that lived in the halls of my apartment? Mr. Woleski walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder. This couldn't be a dream because dreams you can't feel pain right? And right now my arm stung like crazy.

"Dear, what happened? You got one hell of a nasty gash in your arm."

"I-I don't know, Mr. Woleski. Is this real?" I asked hesitantly.

"I'm afraid so. I called the police when I heard you scream."

The elevator dinged and two pairs of boots stepped out into the hallway — Tank — I groaned — and another one of Ranger's men I haven't had the privilege of meeting yet. Just like all of Ranger's men he had military written all over him. He had an average build and was just as equally handsome as all the others.

He immediately rushed over to me and pulled a kit out of his pocket and started to apply gauze on my cheek. "Alyssa, I'm Bobby Brown," he smiled as he worked on me.

"Like the artist?" I asked giggled.

He grinned and nodded his head, "I'm the medic for Rangeman. I'm going to get you cleaned up, ok?"

Like he really needed to ask, he was already doing as he pleased and asked after the fact. But I nodded my head anyways and laid my head on his shoulder.

"You have dreamy eyes," I giggled letting my forehead rest on his.

He responded with a kind smile as Tank loomed over us silently. At some point Mr. Woleski had retreated back into his apartment probably because his shotgun wasn't registered and he didn't want to get into trouble. I was learning quickly that there were many unregistered weapons in the city limits of Trenton.

"T-Tank-y, I d-don't want lecture. Wa-wasn't my fault," I slumped against the wall feeling dizzy from the effects of the alcohol.

"Little Girl, I wasn't going to lecture you, but where is your phone?"

I shrugged and closed my eyes.

"You got quite the haircut there."

"Huh?" my eyes flew open in horror. I jumped up and fumbled for my keys to open my door. Tank extracted the keys from my hand and opened the door. I ran to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. A huge chunk of my hair was missing from the front. I busted out into tears and slumped onto the ground.

"What's going on in here and why's there a huge bullet hole in the wall?" a familiar voice barked in the hallway.

Tank gathered me into his arms and placed me on the sofa.

"Cupcake, what happened?"

I uncovered my face and looked up at him.

"Oh shit," Joe gasped and his handsome face twisted as if he was trying suppress a smile. He came and sat down beside and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"I d-didn't need h-haircut!" I hiccupped and sobbed wildly.

"Cupcake, it's just hair. It's not that bad," he chuckled.

"F-fuck you, Morelli," I cried and flimsily threw a pillow at him.

"Ms. Chau, don't move around so much. You're bleeding everywhere," Bobby tried stilling me. "Officer, she is bleeding pretty badly. I'd like to get her patched up if you don't mind."

Joe stood up and glared at Tank and Bobby, "What are you two doing here?"

"We heard the call of a domestic disturbance in Ms. Chau's building on the police scanner and we happened to be in the area so we responded to the call," Tank answered.

"L-leave them alone," I said exasperated at Joe waving him off. Bobby began cleaning my cuts and pulling supplies out of a black bag that had magically appeared out of thin air. "A-are you a magician?" I asked in awe.

He smiled and looked up at Joe, "I believe she may be slightly intoxicated."

"Cupcake, what happened?"

"I was drinking Misty," I clasped my hands over my mouth and stifled a laugh. "I mean I drank _with_ Misty. I didn't actually drink _her_. How would you do that any ways? That would be pretty funny if I could drink her huh?"

"Cupcake, focus," Joe snapped his fingers in my face.

"Don't act like an angry horsey pants. Sheesh. I'm getting to it," I glared at him. "Geez Mr. Italian Stallion has no patience," I said to Bobby and turned back to Joe, "Well, Misty…" I snorted trying to hold back my laughter, "…she wanted to know about your…" I fell back onto the couch and fell victim to my own hysterics as I crooked my index finger and started wiggling it towards his crotch.

Joe made a choking sound, "I meant that I want to know what happened in the hallway. I don't need the details to your outing with Misty."

I wrinkled my nose, "Well, then next time be more specific, sheesh, _Officer_. Then I came home. The lights went out in the hallway. And someone whispered 'You are going to pay for what I did,'" I tried mimicking the disguised voice. "And then something cold touched me and I was like, 'Ow, that hurts,' and then a loud BOOM!" I sat up straight and made a boom hand gesture. "And then the lights turned on and there was nothing. I think it was a ghost!" I exclaimed leaning into Bobby's face. "Did you know you have pretty eyes," I smiled.

I quickly regretted sitting up too fast. I ran to the bathroom and threw up as Bobby was halfway wrapping my arm. I rinsed my mouth out and came back to the couch and smiled at Bobby, "You're really nice. You have warm hands. Officer Grouchy Pants has cold hands sometimes. He sometimes likes to do magic too! He does this trick where—"

"—Cupcake!" Joe yelled interrupting me.

"See, I told you he was Officer Grouchy Pants," I leaned into Bobby's ear.

"This is the reason why I don't want you sticking your nose into police business. It's obvious that this attacker who's been running around given women makeovers is starting to become more dangerous. You need to stop this."

"My hair!" I wailed loudly.

"Christ," Joe muttered.

"I'm sleepy. I go to bed now. Thank you," I patted Bobby on the head and went to the bedroom and crashed onto the bed. This had to be an insane dream.


	18. Chapter 18

_**Previous Chapter: **__"My hair!" I wailed loudly. _

_ "Christ," Joe muttered._

_ "I'm sleepy. I go to bed now. Thank you," I patted Bobby on the head and went to the bedroom and crashed onto the bed. This had to be an insane dream._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 18<strong>

I sat in the busy waiting area in the salon trying not to stare at all of the women sitting around me with butchered haircuts. I couldn't take it anymore so I threw the magazine down on the table. I had been waiting for over two hours for Mr. Alexander to fix my butchered hair, but compared to these women, I was lucky.

I leaned into one of the women, "Were you attacked too?"

She nodded her head, "I was loading my car at the grocery store and a heard a car pull up behind me and I woke up on the ground with this," she pointed at her head.

Another woman took her nose out of a book and spoke up, "I was in the shower at the gym."

"My date had just dropped me off at my door," a younger girl cried. "It was the icing on the cake of a crappy date. I couldn't get out of the car fast enough and didn't want him to walk me in."

"Who would do such a thing?" another woman with beautiful red hair asked.

"Did you get attacked too?" a woman with thick shiny brown hair and full lips asked.

I nodded my head.

"Well, it doesn't look like you got it really bad," she retorted.

"I was saved by a neighbor before anymore damage was done and I was lucky to be able to put up a fight."

"I'll say you were unlucky," the red head spoke up. "I mean, it looks like you were cut up pretty badly," she pointed out the bandage on my face and arm. "I would gladly have my hair cut off versus being sliced up. At least Mr. Alexander is a miracle worker, he can make just about anything work."

I nodded in agreement. "Did any of you see who attacked you, by any chance?"

They all shook their heads.

"I was chloroformed," the red head spoke up with the rest of the women nodding in agreement.

"Ms. Chau," Mr. Alexander stepped out and called me.

"It was a pleasure speaking with you ladies. I'm sure the police will catch whoever's doing this soon."

"Hey aren't you that Bombshell Bounty Hunter?" the young girl asked.

I scrunched my nose, "Uh no, you're mistaking me for someone else." I hurried over to Mr. Alexander.

_**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**_

I glimpsed in the vanity mirror and scrunched my nose. I now looked like a sixteen year old with my new straight bangs. Mr. Alexander said it was the best he could do with how short my hair was cut in the front.

I let out a loud sigh. Now this is personal. I'm going to get down to the bottom of this hair thief. I picked up the phone and dialed, "I'm in. Whatever you're planning to get whatever evidence on Beatrice Potts, I want in."

"Cool, meet me tonight at nine. I'll text you the address," Misty replied.

_Click._

I joined Misty behind the dumpster, "So what's the plan?"

"She just left her apartment. I'm guessing to go to another black market or to steal someone else's hair. So, her apartment should be clear. We break in find the evidence that we need and if it's there, we call the cops with an anonymous tip that we smell smoke coming from the apartment. The cops check it out and find the evidence in her apartment of her illegal activities."

I looked at Misty in amazement, "You never cease to amaze me with your brilliance."

"I know. That's why we're a good pair. Nice bangs by the way you look like they just dropped you off of a fishing boat down by the harbor." I scrunched my nose at her as she grabbed my hand and led me into the building.

"That was pretty racist comment, Mis," I stated following her in.

"Oh stop being so sensitive. You look like an fucking China doll and you know it. And it's not racist if you're my friend."

I don't think that racism works that way but before I could argue the point we reached Potts' door on the fifth floor.

"Do you know how to pick a lock?" I asked.

"No. Don't you? Shouldn't that be a part of your 'training' with Ranger," she replied air quoting the word "training."

"Uh, I suppose so but we haven't gotten that far in yet."

"This training with Ranger is becoming more and more suspicious," she shot me a sly grin.

I rolled my eyes, "It's not like that. We _have_ been training. So far, all he's done is torture me by making me run and taken me to the gun range." Quickly trying to focus back on the task at hand I asked, "How about a credit card? It seems to always work in the movies." I pulled a credit card out and slid it between the door and the frame. I jiggled it around for a couple of minutes before the card snapped in half. "Well, that didn't work," I muttered.

"I have a better idea," she said feeling around on top of the door frame. "Eureka!" she furnished a key.

"Yeah, you could've done that before you let me snap my credit card in half."

"It was probably better that it did, so you don't put yourself into further debt," she said unlocking the door.

I hate it when she's right. Following her into the tiny studio apartment, we saw mannequin heads everywhere with hair and on the walls were covered with photos of women. Obviously these photos were taken without these women's knowledge from a distance. I began recognizing some of the women from Mr. Alexander's salon.

"Hey, Mis, I think I found your hair," I shouted back to her looking at several photos of Misty in her car, coming out of her office building, having lunch at the little café across the street from her office.

Misty didn't respond to me. "Mis! Did you hear me?"

"Yeah…" she said slowly. "Um, Alyssa, I think you should take a look at this."

I made my way over to where she was standing in the corner. My eyes fell upon all of the photos on the wall and the color drained from my face. There were pictures upon pictures of me coming out of the bonds office, walking out of my apartment, inside my car, among others along with a small clump of hair tied in a red ribbon thumbtacked above them.

These photos were different from the other women's photos. My photos had big red X's drawn over my face. Newspaper articles covering the disasters I was a part of were scattered all over the wall. Why was it that this woman seemed to harbor so much hatred for me? I didn't even know who she was. I don't think I've ever even seen her before in my entire life.

"What did you do to piss her off, Alyssa?" Misty murmured.

"Nothing! I don't even know her. I don't even recognize the woman. She's not a former BEA of mine and I don't recall ever running into her before."

"Well, she obviously thinks she knows you. Wow, what happened to me pales in comparison to what she wants to do to you."

I just stood there staring wide-eyed at the wall.

"I'm going to call the police now. I think there's more than enough substantial evidence for them to lock her up for the hair crimes, and if anything, I _know_ Morelli will be more willing to take the case seriously seeing how obsessed this woman is with you. And the attack that happened to you last night wasn't just a botched up cut and run job."

I nodded slowly.

"Ok, let's get out of here before the cops arrest us for breaking and entering," she pushed me out the door.

We hid behind the dumpster waiting for the cops to show up. A black and white showed up within ten minutes after Misty's call. Carl and Big Dog were the uniforms that arrived on scene.

"How long do we have to stay here?" I whispered towards Misty.

"A few more minutes," she hushed me.

About ten minutes after Carl and Big Dog had entered the complex; Joe's truck skidded to an abrupt stop at the curb. He had a scowl on his face as he marched into the building quickly.

"Oh looks like Supercop just learned of your little shrine," Misty giggled. "Now we can go. Our work is done. Now let's go dancing."

"Really, Misty?

"Yes, really. Look we're already dressed for it."

She was right. Misty was dressed in a slinky black dress always looking like her sexy self. And I was wearing my uniform which consisted of the typical skinny jeans, black tank and black converse shoes.

"I would try to persuade you to go home and put on something more suitable but I know I'd never win that fight. So, let's go drop off your car and get at couple of hours of fun-filled dancing. I feel like celebrating."

I scrunched my nose, "Fine."

_**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**_

For me dancing was a way of letting go and freedom. It sent a powerful sensation through my body. Honestly, for me a really good dance could give me a sensational orgasm. Misty had already sunk her claws into her latest male prey and was nowhere to be seen. Our typical night life routine was we arrive together, stick around together for a bit at the beginning of the night, Misty leaves with someone else who's not me, and I'm left to walk home alone.

At first this irritated me but we've been doing it for so many years that it doesn't bother me anymore. Actually it's nice to have the kind of relationship where we could spend time together and not be so clingy. I didn't mind the walks home at night because it was during that time that the city was the most tranquil and my apartment was only about ten blocks away. It was a great time to take in the quiet and wind down from a great night of dancing.

Tonight I thought I would stick around a little longer. I closed my eyes and let the beat of the music take over. I felt a pair of hand slid over my waist. I opened my eyes and on instinct I stepped forward to get out of stranger's grasp. For me dancing was a solo sport. I didn't like the bumping and grinding that so many people thought of as dancing. In fact, I've been told I'm very stand-offish.

I enjoyed my solo dancing, not that I wouldn't mind being in the arms of a hot, sexy, respectful man but that kind of man was far beyond the typical man that would come to places like _Metro Club_. But not just that, men didn't generally approach a woman dressed like me because it was obvious to them that I was no "fun." I spun around and shoved the man hard in the chest to ward him off.

"Whoa, Beautiful! Relax, it's me," Santos had his hands up.

"Jesus! I could've hurt you!" I shouted at him.

"Ha! Beautiful, I would hate to get on your bad side. I saw you over here dancing by yourself, and I couldn't help myself."

"What are you doing here?"

He wasn't dressed in his typical all black attire. In fact, he was in jeans and a light blue button down that hugged the curvature of his muscles nicely.

"When I'm not trying to save you from big burly men, I do like to go out and unwind from time to time. So are you going to let me dance with you or are you going to make me beg?"

"I wouldn't mind seeing you beg a little," I said amused.

"Beautiful, for you, I would beg until I was blue in the face," he smiled grabbing my waist and pulling me into him.

Santos oozed with raw sexuality. I couldn't help but notice all of the women watching him and shooting me evil glares wondering why a man like him would be dancing with a girl like me.

"You don't give yourself enough credit, Beautiful. You're sexy as hell," Santos whispered in my ear.

Great, this guy had ESP just like Ranger. Although Santos was an incredibly handsome and sexy Latino, he lacked something that kept him from making my heart stop the way Ranger did. We efficiently closed the club down.

"Beautiful, you've got some great moves."

"You're not so bad yourself, Santos."

"Lester. And it's all in the Latin genes. It would be a sacrilege for me to not have natural moves."

My mind started wandering to thoughts of Ranger and his natural moves on the dance floor. His strong hands wrapped around my waist as our bodies swayed to the music…

"Beautiful, are you ok?" Lester asked snapping me out of my daze.

"Huh? Yeah…well, Lester. It's late and it's time for this dance machine to head home."

"Can I give you a lift?"

"No, I'm good. Thanks for the offer though."

"That's too bad. I would've loved to tuck you in tonight," he winked.

I shook my head incredulously. Where were all these hot flirty men in the last three years of my life?

"Well, at least I one-upped Tank and Hal tonight. They may have gotten the casual friendly hug and pecks on the cheeks, but I got to hold you close to me all night."

"Wow, and women fall for this charm?" I teased.

"Of course, the ladies love Lester Santos," he grinned.

"Well, Lester Santos, thanks for the dance but I should be running home. It's getting late."

"Good night, Beautiful. Stay safe."

I scrunched my nose at his last statement.

"Night," I gave him the quick finger wave and walked out the door.

Walking past the house where Morelli and I had our first encounter when he was chasing down Pinky and he took me hostage. I felt a hint of warmth in my heart remembering the fear he had in his eyes while Pinky had his knife pressed against my throat. The thought of how much he cared for me even before he even knew me made my heart swell.

A black Crown Victoria with shiny chrome rims came barreling around the corner carrying several men. "Hey, Bitch! The end is coming soon for you!" one of the men cackled out the window.

Then he and another man in the back leaned out the window and pulled out large guns and aimed them at me. I heard the gun shots ring as the life was swiftly knocked out of me.

* * *

><p><em>We're quickly approaching the angst. Hope you're still with me. =)<em>


	19. Chapter 19

_**Previous Chapter: **__A black Crown Victoria with shiny chrome rims came barreling around the corner carrying several men. "Hey, Bitch! The end is coming soon for you!" one of the men cackled out the window. _

_ Then he and another man in the back leaned out the window and pulled out large guns and aimed them at me. I heard the gun shots ring as the life was swiftly knocked out of me._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 19<strong>

"Beautiful, are you ok? Talk to me!"

I looked up at Lester who was on top of me, "W-what happened?"

"I think you could call that an attempted hit and run but they obviously weren't trying to hit you. Just get you riled up."

"W-what are you doing here?"

"I'm parked over there," he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "You told me that you had a ride home."

I shook my head, "No, I just said I didn't need a ride. I have two perfectly functioning legs that were made not just for dancing but for walking as well. But at this present time, I can't seem to feel them. You weight a ton, Mister."

I half expected him to reply with some witty remark but instead his eyes remained serious and unwavering. "Beautiful, do you know how dangerous it is for you to walk alone at night and considering all of the people out there that have a target on your head?"

"I walk home alone all the time. I can take care of myself."

"There's no doubt about that, but it's about being smart. You know you're a walking bull's-eye right now."

"Thanks," I said shoving him off of me.

"Come on, I'll take you home."

"Fine," I grumbled.

Lester insisted that he walk me to my door. We approached the door and a manila envelope with my name scrawled on the front of it was sticking out from under the door. I reached down and picked it up.

"What is it?" Lester asked.

"I don't know. I don't recognize the handwriting."

"Hand it over."

"What? No, what if it's private?"

"Are you expecting a package or do you know anybody that would leave you a package."

I hesitated, "No…"

"Then hand it over. It's better to be safe than sorry."

"Fine. You're no fun when you're serious," I complained shoving the envelope into his hands.

I unlocked the door and pushed it open. Lester stopped me from stepping inside. He shoved me aside as he walked into the apartment switching on the light and scanned the room.

I shoved past him. "Ok Ranger Number Two. Sheesh," I muttered under my breath.

"I'm better than Ranger," Lester spoke up after he was satisfied with his search.

I rolled my eyes.

Lester inspected the envelope before carefully opening it up. He pulled out several large letter sized thick papers as he skimmed through the first few papers his eyes darkened and he shoved them back into the envelop without looking at the rest of them.

I was growing tired of this macho act so I sauntered into the kitchen and checked my messages.

_Beep._

_ Cupcake, why aren't you answering your cell phone? Call me. _

_ Beep._

_ Alyssa, you've made The Champ very angry. I told you to save yourself for me. I hope you like your present. There are more to come until our special night. Until then, you better stop whoring yourself around. You're The Champ's now. Don't forget. Soon you'll be screaming only my name._

_ Beep._

_ Cupcake, why are you avoiding me? We need to talk. Call me soon._

_ Beep._

"What was in the envelope, Les?" my voice quivered.

"Beautiful, he's been watching you very carefully," he handed me the envelope.

I pulled out its contents and set my eyes on the first sheet of paper which turned out to be a photo — a naked photo of me with my head tilted back with Joe's face buried in my chest and the word Whore written in red over the photo. I flipped through all of the photos recognizing Joe's bedroom furniture. He was watching us at Joe's house.

"Oh my god," I said breathlessly shoving the photos back into the envelope. I pitched it into my purse and combed my hand through my hair.

"He's gone beyond subtle threats, Beautiful. He's now trudging into an obsession that's becoming obviously dangerous."

"I-I can't deal with this. I need to go to bed," I said aimlessly walking into the bedroom.

I switched on the light and froze in terror. A loud shriek escaped my mouth causing Lester to barge past me into the bedroom with his gun drawn.

"Shit!" he cursed putting his gun back into the holster. He ran towards the window and began unlocking it. "Beautiful, I'm going to need your help here," he shouted at me breaking me away from my trance.

I willed my feet to move but couldn't. My brain lost control of the actions of my body.

"Beautiful, I'm going to need you to focus," Lester shook me firmly. "I need your help so you need to snap out of it."

I nodded slowly and walked over to the window and placed Monster on the ground. He stepped up on the window sill and began untying the restraints holding a very bloody Lula to the fire escape outside of my window. Tears were rolling down my eyes as I helped Lester untie Lula before setting her gently on the bed.

"I-is she—"

"—No, she's still breathing. Beautiful, I'm going to need you to call the police and grab me some towels. We'll need to help stop the bleeding."

I nodded and ran and called 911 and returned with an armful of towels. "Lula, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault," I cried. "Please don't die on me!"

I handed the towels to Lester and he began a checking Lula's wounds. I stared helplessly at her lying lifeless on my bed. For a large full figured woman, Lula looked more tiny and frail than large and in charge. She was wearing her typical spandex outfit which had soaked up so much blood that it was no longer the neon orange color it once was. Her hair clung around her face messily. Her beautiful dark skin was pale and gray. I did this to her. Everything I touch either breaks or dies. I'm a walking curse.

"Beautiful, I need you to stay with me. She's been stabbed multiple times. I need you to help me apply pressure until the paramedics get here so that she doesn't bleed out," he motioned me over to the bed.

I climbed up on the bed and pressed down on Lula's chest when my cell phone rang. With one hand, I pulled out the phone and put it on speaker on the bed and continued to apply pressure to slow down the bleeding.

"I see you got my present, Alysssssssa," the menacing voice hissed. "I hope you like it. You've been a very naughty girl. I saw you dancing tonight. That should've been me you were dancing with. I told you to be good for me. Why did you bring him home with you? Why did you let him touch you? You're supposed to wait for me," his voice increased a couple of octaves as he continued.

I angrily shouted at the phone, "What are you waiting for, asshole? Why don't you just come and get me? Why are you involving an innocent person in all of this?"

"She wouldn't tell me what you came to talk to her about. I don't like people keeping information from me. Besides, we had fun. She enjoyed her time with _The Champ_. It was an honor for a ho like her to be with someone like me."

"What we talked about had nothing to do with you! If you want me then come get me now, you fucking piece of shit! I'm right here waiting!"

"Patience, honey, _The Champ_ will come for you soon. _The Champ_ is not an idiot. He knows that the cops are on the way," he snarled. "Besides, _The Champ_ wants to efficiently woo you first. _The Champ_ is old fashioned like that. The time will come when you and _The Champ_ will be together. Until then, you better behave."

_Click._

"Beautiful, are you ok?" Les reached out and touched my arm.

"N-no," I quivered. "This is my fault."

"This is NOT your fault. It's Ramirez's fault. You can't control other people's actions."

I shook my head, "Regardless. I am responsible and I will make things right."

Before Lester could say anything the police and paramedics showed up. Carl came over and escorted me outside with the paramedics.

"Alyssa, are you ok?" he asked concerned and gave me a hug.

I shook my head carefully keeping my hands to my side as not to get blood on his uniform, "No, Carl, I'm not. I'm responsible for this."

"You're not, Alyssa. This is Ramirez's handy work. I've seen it too often," he tried reassuring me and placed a hand on my arm.

"Then why isn't he behind bars?" I shouted swatting his arm away.

"Alyssa, don't think we haven't tried for years. But the women he brutalizes are usually hookers and none of them will speak up about it."

"Well, it's going to be different now. I'm going to do something about it," I said sternly.

"Morelli's on his way over. He'll be here in about ten. Why don't you wait by the squad car for him?"

"No, I'm going with Lula to the hospital. Hospitals are awful and I don't want her waking up there alone. Plus, I'm not in the mood to deal with the Italian temper. If you would please keep him away from me as long as you can, I would be in your debt."

"Sure, Alyssa. But I'll make sure I hold you to it," he smiled tapping my nose.

Lester was speaking to Big Dog giving him the details of our evening events. I approached them slowly and stood next to him quietly. He drew me in and hugged me tightly. Not an awkward hug like Tank and Hal but a nice warm, firm, protective hug.

"Thank you," I said quietly burying my face in his chest. I missed Ranger. I don't know where that came from but I missed him. I wanted him there with me.

"Of course, Beautiful," he said kissing the top of my head.

"I'm going to the hospital with Lula and I'm staying the night there. I appreciate you being there for me tonight but you should head home and get some rest. I don't want to get in trouble with Ranger for breaking more of his men."

The last statement drew out the Lester's signature goofy smile.

"Besides my apartment is now a crime scene and I can't stay here anyways."

"I'll come to the hospital with you."

"No," I held up my bloody hand and quickly dropped it back down to my side. "You've done enough already. Please don't argue with me."

He shook his head, "I'm not leaving you."

I paused to think of my next argument but decided against it.

"Thank you," I stood on my tippy toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Finally," he sighed.

This made me smile slightly.

_**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**_

Misty met me at the hospital and stayed for about an hour before I sent her back home after she made me promise to call her the moment anything changed. There was no use having both of us there worrying over Lula. She had come out of surgery and received a number of blood transfusions. Luckily none of the knife wounds had hit a vital organ and only one hit a major artery which the surgeon was able to repair successfully.

I woke up to someone shaking my shoulder lightly.

"Beautiful," a voice whispered in my ear.

I rose slowly from my temporary bed wrapped in a strong protective embrace. I rubbed my eyes and looked up at Lester's smiling face.

"Visiting hours are open now. I thought you'd be more comfortable waiting in your friend's room," a nurse smiled down at me.

I nodded my head, "Thank you."

"She's in room 3B."

Lester escorted me into the white room, "I'll wait outside for you. Holler if you need anything."

"Thank you," I squeezed his hand before walking and taking in the sight of Lula sunken into the hospital bed with hooked up to monitors and an IV.

I pulled a chair up quietly beside her bed but was unsuccessful at the quiet part as I knocked into her breakfast tray causing it to crash to the ground.

An orderly ran in and hurriedly cleaned it up.

"I'm so sorry," I gushed over and over again.

"It's ok," he smiled. "I'll bring her a new one."

I looked up at Lula who was slowly opening her eyes.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up," I almost began crying.

"Girlfriend, I'll have plenty of time to sleep when I'm six feet under. I'm glad to be awake."

I grabbed her hand and held it, "This is my fault. I'm so sorry."

"This isn't your damned fault. That Benny is a psycho. He kept trying to get me to tell him what we were talking about."

"Why didn't you just tell him?"

"Because it's was none of his goddamned business. Even if I told him, you think it would've made a difference? That man's got some sort of obsession with you, honey. You better be careful."

"Don't worry about me. I should be worrying about you."

"Girl, ain't 'nothing going to bring Lula down. I got all this cushion protecting me," she stated referring to her thickness. "His pitiful little knife couldn't penetrate this goodness. He didn't have a chance. But if anything I took from this experience is that it's time for me to retire and find a new line of business. My ho days are over."

My heart filled with admiration for how strong and positive Lula was and I had to find a way to help her out. "I think I might have a solution for you when you're better. The bond's office that I work for is desperately in need of a File Clerk. It pays minimum wage but it might be a good stepping stone for you."

"Shit, I know my ABC's. I'll file the shit out that office."

I laughed out loud, "I'll talk to Connie about it today and I'll let you know. I'm so glad that you're ok, Lula."

"Girlfriend, it's going to take a lot more than Benito Ramirez to take down this Queen Bee. Now get out of here. You look awful. You're making me nervous with how tired and sickly you look. I can tell you've been here all night. Besides that orderly that brought my breakfast this morning was scrumptious. I can't have your skinny ass ruining my chances with him."

I shook my head in amazement before walking out the door.

"Oh and one more thing, Alyssa…you better believe that asshole's going to jail. I'm not going to be like the other girls and keep my mouth shut. God knows, no man will ever keep this mouth shut."

I nodded my head in agreement.

Benito Ramirez is definitely not going to get away with this.


	20. Chapter 20

_**Previous Chapter: **__"Girlfriend, it's going to take a lot more than Benito Ramirez to take down this Queen Bee. Now get out of here. You look awful. You're making me nervous with how tired and sickly you look. I can tell you've been here all night. Besides that orderly that brought my breakfast this morning was scrumptious. I can't have your skinny ass ruining my chances with him."_

_ I shook my head in amazement before walking out the door._

_ "Oh and one more thing, Alyssa…you better believe that asshole's going to jail. I'm not going to be like the other girls and keep my mouth shut. God knows, no man will ever keep this mouth shut."_

_ I nodded my head in agreement. _

_Benito Ramirez is definitely not going to get away with this._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 20<strong>

I spent the beginning half of the day packing up Suzie Oz's house for donations. I held onto a few of her photo albums of her travels with her husband. I know that she wasn't an actual part of my family but the photos let me pretend if just for a moment that I was.

Even when my parents were alive, we never took family vacations together. My father was a workaholic and never found enough time for us to spend together. So, even though I was a privileged child with all of the spoils a little girl could ever imagine with our big gated home, private swimming pool, and servants to boot, I never got to experience trips to the beach as a family or venture to the Magic Kingdom.

My father was simply too important and successful for his own good. My mother was the one who'd take me to the beach on special occasions. It was always me and my mother. My father was always absent. He would often travel to exotic places for business and return with lavish presents for me such as dolls with fine silk hair from Asia but not once did he bring his family to enjoy the spoils of travel.

He was a man who knew nothing about me. If he had known me, he'd known that I didn't want beautiful dolls with silk hair, I wanted the latest and greatest toy robot from Japan. He'd had known that the one way to my heart were exotic desserts not color hair pins. But he passed away not knowing who his daughter was and in return his face has faded from his daughter's memory. I closed the photo album and placed it inside of a box and labeled it Suzie before taping it up.

Connie had agreed to hire Lula as she was swimming in files already even after I had helped clear out more than half of it last week. I was able to bring in my three skips for the day and only landed on my ass once. I successfully avoided running into Joe at the station all day along with a dozen phone calls from him.

I was about ten miles away from my apartment when I could feel something off with my car — other than my doors. It started to slow down and steam began rising from the hood. I slowly guided the car to the shoulder before choked and died.

Smoke rose from under hood clouding the entire car. I knew today was too good to be true. Life just doesn't seem to want to cooperate with me. Grabbing my purse, I decided not to fight it anymore. Why bother trying to save this POS car?

"Fuck!" I shouted loudly at my phone.

The battery was dead. I kicked the tire of my car and kept screaming at the top of my lungs. People could honk their cars and think I'm some crazy woman all they want. I didn't care. After my satisfying tantrum, I began my journey stumbling upon a gas station about a forty-five minute walk later. Tired, I trudged up to the pay phone and dropped in fifty cents. What happened to when pay phones were only ten cents for a call?

Lifting the receiver to my ear, I got ready to dial Misty's number but there was no dial tone. I pressed down on the hang up button several times but nothing happened and it didn't even return my change. I began slamming the receiver down on the phone several repeatedly and screaming at the top of my lungs.

"Piece of shit pay phone! AGH!"

"Beautiful, I don't think beating it will make it work any better."

I jerked my head up and smashed my face into Lester's chest to muffle my screams.

"Beautiful, this is the twenty-first century. There's a thing called cell phones. Why are you trying to use this ancient contraption?"

"Because my piece of shit car broke down and my phone is dead," I replied hoping he'd understand my muffled voice through his shirt.

"Well, good thing Uncle Lester's here to the rescue," he patted my head.

"Uncle?" I looked up at him.

He shrugged, "First thing that came to mind."

"Can you call a tow truck for me?"

"I'll offer you something better — Rangeman services," he smiled. "Let's get you home."

"Home," I sighed.

Carl had told me that they were finished with my apartment and had locked it up and sent a cleanup crew over to my place this afternoon so it was ready for me to go back to but my bed was not salvageable as there was too much blood to get out.

"You know you're welcome to stay at Rangeman if you need a safe place to hide out. In fact, Ranger would probably prefer you stay there. It'd be much easier for us to watch your back."

I scrunched my nose following him to a lime green Mustang, "Thanks but I'm not looking for a hide out. This is your car?"

"Yep. She's a beaut isn't she?"

"What about the black SUV?"

"That's a company car. This is my personal car."

I slid into the very masculine car. "It's nice."

A few short minutes later Lester pulled into my parking lot, "I'll walk you up."

I nodded my head accepting. This is one of those times that I wasn't going to fight someone for being overprotective. I didn't know what to expect walking into the apartment and sure as hell didn't want to do it alone.

Stepping out of the car, I was knocked back into the side of the car suddenly from being startled by a loud explosion coming from the apartment building. Lester wrapped his arms around me and shielded me from the second explosion. I regained my balance pushing away from Lester's grasp and looked up watching flames dancing in the window on the second floor — my kitchen.

"No!" I cried out dashing towards the building.

"Alyssa, stop!" Lester shouted out after me.

I crashed through the front doors and hurried up the stairs dodging a few of people trying to make their way down the stairs.

"Dear, the building's on fire. You shouldn't go up there," Mr. Woleski shouted at me over the wailing sound of the fire alarm.

"I have to get something!" I cried continuing towards my apartment.

Reaching my door I pushed it open slightly burning my hands on the scalding hot doorknob. Smoke filled the living room. I coughed as making my way through the room towards my bedroom. The flames were quickly spreading into the living room.

Pushing on, I reached my closet and dropped to my hands and knees searching for the only thing that I couldn't live without. My fingers wrapped around a hard square-like object. Clutching it close to my chest, I ran towards the window and grabbed Monster with my other arm and turned to run back out into the living room but the flames were dancing in the door frame.

Smoke was filling my lungs and I began coughing uncontrollably. A large figure hurled itself through the fire into the bedroom. He didn't say a word just grabbed me and carried me to the window. Kicking out the window, he threw me over his shoulder and made his way down the fire escape.

I clutched onto my shoebox and Monster tightly. After running several feet away from the building, Lester finally set me down slowly.

"What were you thinking running into a burning building like that, Alyssa?" he shouted at me but not in a menacing way but more out of concern and fear. He grabbed Monster from my hands allowing me to have a free hand.

"What took you so long?" I coughed over the sirens.

He grabbed me and held me tightly, "Don't fucking scare me like that!"

"Alyssa!" a voice boomed a few feet behind me.

I turned around slowly and to face the music. "Joe," I croaked out.

"Why haven't you been answering your phone? I've been trying to reach you all day. And I hear over the scanners that there's an explosion at your apartment complex. You should've been under police protection. With this contract on your head you shouldn't be running around town especially with what happened in your apartment the other night. You have three—I repeat—THREE psychos after you! You know you could've been killed!" he shouted furiously at me waving his arms in the air with his Italian gestures.

I stood silently watching him throw his tantrum.

"You're coming home and staying with me until this is all over," he grabbed my am.

I yanked my arm back from his grasp, "I'm not going home with you, Joe."

"And why the hell not? And who the hell is this guy?" he demanded.

"This _guy_ is my friend! I'm not going home with you because I don't want to experience another chance encounter with your family."

"My family?" he asked confused.

"Oh I guess you haven't had a chance to talk to your mother or grandmother yet."

"Is that why they keep calling me? I've been working double shifts, Cupcake. I haven't been home in days. What did my mother say to you?" his voice came down a notch.

"First of all, they didn't know who I was which I'm not really too surprised since I don't even know what's going on between us anyways. So I don't blame you for not mentioning me to your family. Secondly, you should consider teaching your family that the politically correct term to refer to 'people like me' as 'Asian.' But to be even more specific, I am a fucking American. I was born in the U.S. of A. and I shouldn't be judged by the color of my skin!" my voice was echoing through the night sky loudly. "Thirdly, just because I don't currently have a set of parents doesn't mean that they didn't teach me right before I lost them," I exploded into tears.

"Cupcake," Joe stepped closer to me.

"Don't!" I held my hand up to him.

"Cupcake, don't listen to the things that my mother and grandmother have to say. They're a bunch of old loony kooks."

I shot him a sharp glare, "You shouldn't speak about your family like that. You're lucky that you have people who care so much about you that they would question and attack people who they believe may hurt you."

He gave me a shocked look not knowing how to react to my Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde attitude. Honestly, I wouldn't know how to react to my outburst either.

"I want you to come home with me, Cupcake, so that I can keep you safe. I can't keep you safe when you're running around doing god knows what for that asinine job of yours. Just look at your apartment!" he roared pointing at my burning apartment.

Tears continued to pour down my eyes.

"You don't even know this guy and you're putting your trust in him? Why? Because he's one of Ranger's thugs—"

"—Don't you dare say anything further about Ranger or his men, Joe," I cut him off.

"Fine," he held up his hands. "But you could've been killed. What if you were in there when the explosion happened?"

"Well, I wasn't and I'm fine," I dug my heel into the ground and said firmly. "I'm not going home with you, Joe. I'm going home with Lester."

"You don't even know him!" his eyes filled with rage.

"But I trust him. You need more reasons for me not going with you? Here's more reasoning," I tossed the manila envelope from my purse on the ground in front of him. "I don't need you to get hurt too because of me. Come on, Lester. I want to go now," grabbed his arm and walked towards his car.

Lester pulled out of the lot and drove about a block away. "Thanks for standing up for me back there," he said breaking the silence.

"I shouldn't have had to stand up for you," I muttered. "You can drop me off at the corner over there," I pointed out at the next intersection.

"Why? You have a friend that lives there?"

I shook my head, "I just don't want to involve you any further than I already have. Ramirez is after people that are seen with me. I'll find a motel to stay for the night."

"Like hell you are!" he said quickly and sped down the road.

"Where are you going?" I panicked.

"The bachelor pad," he smiled.

I scrunched my nose.

"Trust me. You're going to love it there."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I'm there," he grinned.

I took quick glimpses over at Lester while he drove. His eyes were focused on the road. His presence was uncanny to Ranger especially when he was serious. He was slimmer than Ranger like light Ranger. Don't get me wrong he had an impressive body and you could tell he had rippling muscles. The difference was that Ranger had muscle bulk.

"He's my cousin."

"Huh?" I looked at him confused.

"Ranger."

"Oh," I replied quietly. And obviously ESP runs in the freaking family.

He grinned, "Beautiful, you're gorgeous when you have arguments with yourself in your head. Your face is very expressive."

I smacked him on the arm.

"Ranger and I grew up together. We joined the Army Rangers together too but we served in different platoons. We're more like brothers and now we work together or more like I work for Ranger. He's always been the one with the business sense. I can't get serious enough to take on the responsibility," he grinned at me.

"What about Tank, Hal, and Bobby?" I asked. At least this Ranger version seemed to be open and spoke freely.

"Beautiful, I'm a thousand times better than my cuz so you shouldn't be comparing us," he chuckled.

Damn that ESP.

"Tank is Ranger's best friend, right hand man, and second in command at Rangeman. Hal is an employee of Rangeman. I don't know much about him, he just started about a month ago, but he seems to be a pretty good guy. Bobby and I served together in the same platoon, he's a good man. He's the Rangeman medic. We go way back. So what's with you and my cousin?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly what I asked. What's going on between you and my cousin?'

"Uh, he's my friend," I hesitated flushing red thinking about the last kiss I shared with him in the alley.

"That's it?" he raised an eyebrow. So Ranger-like.

"And he's my mentor. He's been helping me to become a better bounty hunter."

"Beautiful, you must learn pretty fast because what you did with Curtis the other night was phenomenal. But are you sure there's nothing else going on between you and my cousin?"

"Why do you keep asking that?"

He shrugged, "He's never invested this much attention into someone before especially one of the female variety."

I scrunched my nose.

"Beautiful, every time my cousin talks about you to the men he gets as serious as a man can get and all of us are scared of what he would do if we were to fail to protect you. I've never seen him care about anyone this much before. _My_ life flashed before my eyes when I saw you go into that burning building. Ranger would've killed me!"

"Whatever," I said rolling my eyes.

"I'm serious, Beautiful. The man has it bad for you. He's made sure every man at Rangeman is on call to ensure your safety. He's exhausted every resource we have to make sure that we cover the little Bombshell Bounty Hunter. We have strict instructions that not a single hair on your body is to be harmed."

Ranger's exhausted all of his resources to ensure my safety? Why would he do that? "By the way, how is it that you guys always know where I am and seem to just pop up out of nowhere?"

"That's a trade secret, Beautiful," he smiled. "Ta-da! We're here," he gestured to a quaint brownstone.

"Cute."

"Beautiful, a man's home is not _cute_," he grabbed Monster from the backseat and stepped out of the car.

Lester's apartment was definitely a guy's home. The décor was covered in neutral grays and blues, nothing too personal was set up in the apartment just the essentials and of course the Xbox 360 in the living room and big flat screen TV.

"Let's get you cleaned up. Because frankly, Beautiful, you look like you were at a bbq and you were the meat," he bared a toothy grin.

"You don't look so hot yourself, Santos," I shot back sticking my tongue out at him.

"Why the hell would you risk your life running into a burning building to save a dying plant and a shoebox?"

"Monster is _not_ dying," I defended. "He's just _adapting_. And you have to promise not to look in this box. In fact, don't look at the box much less think about the box."

"Ok."

"Promise!"

"I promise, Beautiful. You can trust me."

I nodded my head adamantly, "Can I put it in your closet then?"

"Sure," he led me to his bedroom. His bedroom was the same color scheme as the living room.

His bedroom was surprisingly clean with a large king size bed that you could fall into and get lost in.

"I see you're checking out the best part of the house," he leaned into my ear and said in a low deep sultry voice.

I blushed. He took the box out of my hands and placed it on the shelf inside of his walk-in closet.

"I'll be a gentleman and let you get cleaned up first. Towels are in the linen closet," he pointed to the door next to the closet.

"Thank you."

The hot shower was exactly what I needed, and Lester's showerhead was a godsend. I stepped out of the shower toweling my hair and looked down at my sooty burnt clothes crumpled on the floor. There was no saving those clothes so I picked them up and stuffed it into the trashcan. Wrapping the towel tightly around my body I carefully stepped over to the door. I stopped myself from opening the door when I heard Lester talking.

Leaning my ear to the door, I tried listening in on what who he was talking to.

"She's staying with me, man. She's perfectly fine — Yeah she ran into the burning building for a dead plant and shoebox — What's with the shoebox? — No, she wouldn't tell me — Hey man, if you don't call it, I will. I'd call dibs and snap her right up…"

My face burned. Lester was obviously on the phone with Ranger and talking about me like I was some sort of object.

"Hey, man, because you're my cousin and all, I'll back off. But she's one hell of a girl…"

I heard enough shoving the door open and stepped into the bedroom. "Les, I don't have any clothes. I had to throw them out on account that they were all tattered and torn," I said loudly hoping Ranger would here.

"Look man, I gotta go. There's a gorgeous naked woman standing in my bedroom and I need to tend to her," he grinned hanging up the phone.

"Oh shit, did you just hung up on Batman? You're a dead man now."

"Yeah but it was worth it," he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me and kissed me on the forehead. "Mmm…mmm…mmm…the things I would love to do to you, Beautiful!" he disappeared into the closet and returned with a large black t-shirt and tossed it towards me.

"Make yourself at home. I'm going to jump in the shower real quick and I'll call out for dinner," he called out to me before disappearing into the bedroom.

I pulled on the oversized black v-neck t-shirt that hung about an inch below my butt with the neck stopping short of my cleavage. I grabbed the throw off of the back of the couch and wrapped myself in it and settled into his comfy oversized couch.

I flipped through the channels trying to find something to take my mind off of seeing Lula's body dangling from my fire escape and the explosion. What was I going to do about Ramirez? Who blew up my apartment? Was it Ramirez or was it the Slayers? If my car hadn't broken down in the middle of the road, I would've been home by the time the apartment blew up.

My mind was reeling with "what ifs" and then drifted to the thought of Ranger. Was he really bleeding money for me? How was I supposed to react to this? Do I feel flattered because he cares that much about me or should I be offended that he thinks I need protecting?

What was with the kiss in the alley? Ranger was like this unattainable dream. The women of Gotham City swoon at the thought of being a part of Batman's life but in truth he never is capable of settling down with anyone because of his inner demons and the dangers that come with his life. What were Ranger's inner demons?

My mind lingered back to the kiss...

_**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**_

I woke up to the smell of greasy cheesy goodness, "Mmm…that smells great."

"Sleeping Beauty awakens by the smell of food. Good to know," Lester chuckled.

"How long was I out?"

"Not long, maybe an hour."

"Sorry, I didn't realize how exhausted I was until now."

"You know you mumble in your sleep."

"Really?"

"Yup, you're in my apartment, with your naked body pressed up against my shirt, and you'll be sleeping in my bed, but all you can do is keep mumbling my cousin's name? It hurts my ego, Beautiful."

I blushed, "I did not!"

"God's honest truth, Beautiful," he raised his right hand.

"Geez, it's just that I was thinking about why he would be trying so hard to protect me earlier while you were in the shower so it must've been floating in my mind."

"The answer's obvious. The man's got it bad for you. That's the only reason why a man would go to those great lengths for a girl other than their family."

"And you guys are doing it because you're following orders?"

"I can't speak for the others but I'm doing it because there's something special about you, Beautiful. Saw it the moment I laid eyes on you. You've captured my heart."

"God, you're a smooth talker," I teased.

"Is it working?" his eyes twinkled.

"Possibly," I replied stealing a slice of pizza. "God…" I moaned loudly after taking a bite.

"Beautiful, you could give a man a heart attack from those sounds."

"Sorry," I blushed. "It's just so good. Where's it from? Cause I didn't think any pizza could be as good as Pino's."

"Shorty's it's better than Pino's."

"That's blasphemy! But I will admit it's pretty close to being on the same ranks as Pino's. So do you live here alone?"

"No, Bobby lives here too," he waved his beer in the direction of the other door.

I chugged my beer and had another bite of pizza.

"What do you want to watch, Beautiful?"

"_Terminator,_" I answered without hesitating.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing. I think I'm in love," he kissed my forehead.


	21. Chapter 21

_**Previous Chapter: **_"_What do you want to watch, Beautiful?"_

_ "Terminator," I answered without hesitating._

_ "Seriously?"_

_ "Yeah, what's wrong with that?"_

_ "Nothing. I think I'm in love," he kissed my forehead._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 21<strong>

I woke up tangled up in a bunch of sheets on a strange yet comfortable bed with my shirt pushed up above my head. I rubbed my face into the pillow and felt a strange calming feeling. I felt that tingling sensation on the back of my neck. Ranger's scent wafted in the air.

"I swear I didn't lay a hand on her, man. You know you can trust me," Lester said from the living room.

I sprung out of bed adjusting Lester's T-shirt back into place and padded out the door into the living room where I found Lester standing in the living room dressed in a cutoff black t-shirt and basketball shorts.

"Beautiful!" he smiled at me.

"Where is he?"

"Who?"

"Don't play dumb, Les. I know he was here. Where is he?"

"He just left, Beautiful. He's only came back to check on things. He's still in the wind."

I ran out the door and scanned the street and shouted, "Ranger?"

"Beautiful, he's long gone," he grabbed my hand. "Let's go back inside before there's a shortage on cold water this morning."

I looked at him confused.

"One look at you in this t-shirt, every single man in this neighborhood is going to need to take a long cold shower."

I blushed pulling down the hem of the shirt only causing it to reveal more cleavage.

"Jesus, Beautiful, are you trying to get me killed," he exclaimed dragging me back into the house.

"Why didn't he wake me up or wait until I got up?" I whined.

"He wasn't even supposed to be here, Beautiful. If I didn't know any better, I would think you've got it bad for my cuz yourself."

I scoffed as Lester gave me a final shove into the house. "We're just friends."

"Uh huh. I laid a fresh shirt and shorts out for you on top of the dresser and there's a new toothbrush in the bathroom for you. Go get ready and breakfast will be waiting for you once you're done."

I quickly got ready and rushed into the kitchen holding up the shorts that were ten times too big on me, "Oh my god, are those homemade pancakes?"

Lester held a tall stack topped with fresh strawberries and bananas in front of my face.

"You're an oddly domestic man," I grabbed the plate from his hands and slid into the chair.

Before shoveling the mountain of fluffy goodness into my mouth, I made sure to drown it in maple syrup. "Wester Sawntwos, I wuv woo," I mumbled shoving more pancake into my mouth.

"Beautiful, if this is the way to your heart, then what are we waiting for? Let's go get hitched."

I grabbed his cell phone and dialed out.

"Yo."

"I'm marrying your cousin."

"Babe."

"He's hot, has a great sense of humor and knows the way to my heart."

_Pause._

"Just thought I'd share," I smiled shoveling another bite in my mouth. "Oh my gawd," I moaned loudly. "Ok, bye bye now."

_Click._

"Beautiful, are you trying to get plan my untimely demise?"

I smiled at him with my mouth full of pancakes and shrugged. Washing everything down with coffee, I sat back and rubbed my belly, "That was the best breakfast. I've had in a very long time. Thank you."

"Beautiful, I think you just signed my death certificate but I'm happy to be of service. Anything to hear those beautiful sounds of appreciation leaving your lips," he smiled setting down a key fob on the table next to my plate.

"What's this for?"

"Well, you need transportation, right?"

I looked at him dumbfounded.

"Ranger dropped off his car for you."

My eyes widened.

"I told you the man has it bad for you."

"I can't drive his car again. It makes me too nervous. I send cars to heaven!"

"He said you'd say that. So he says you have two options, you stick with me twenty four hours a day so that I can keep an eye on you or you can take his car."

"Typical Ranger. There's no way in hell I need a babysitter, but I don't understand what makes his car so safe. Whatever. Fine, I'll take the car."

"He said you'd say that," he grinned. "Oh and he said that your bad taste in music is still in his stereo."

I grinned with delight recalling the Salt 'n Pepa CD Ranger had so kindly left in the car for me last week. "Well, I'm going to the hospital to visit Lula. Thanks for last night and the breakfast."

"Anytime, Beautiful. You're welcomed here anytime."

"Thank you, Les. That's really sweet of you," I gave him a hug and a peck on the cheek. "Mind if I leave Monster and my box here? I'll come pick it up later."

"No problem. And I promise I won't look inside the mysterious box. I wouldn't want to be the fool who opened Pandora's Box."

_**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**_

I walked into Macy's and picked up a black dress and pumps for Suzie's services later that evening along with a few other pieces of clothes and shoes to get me through the week since I doubt anything in my apartment survived the explosion. As I loaded my bags, I heard a loud female shriek a few rows from me and then an old beat up black sedan speed off in the distance.

I ran towards the where I thought the sound of the scream came from and saw a young red headed girl lying unconscious on the ground with a god awful haircut. I pulled out my cell phone and frowned at the dead electronic piece and picked up the girl's purse and found a cellphone and dialed.

"Yeah," an angry gruff voice barked over the phone.

"Hey, it's Alyssa. I'm in the parking garage at the mall on the west entrance of Macy's and a young girl is lying unconscious on the ground with a butchered haircut."

"Shit," he muttered, "stay there and I'll have a black and white meet you there. I'm in the middle of something right now or I would come."

"I understand."

"Cupcake, you know that I'm glad you're ok, right? I care a lot about you. I-I—" his voice broke.

"—It's ok, Joe. I know. I'm sorry for losing my temper. I shouldn't have held what your mother and grandmother did against you."

_Silence._

"I should go," he cleared his throat. "I-I guess I'll see you around, Cupcake. Call me if you need anything."

"Yeah, sure," I replied. "Take care, Joe."

_Click._

My heart filled with sorrow. Did I mess things up with him before something was even able to begin?


	22. Chapter 22

_**Previous Chapter: **__"I should go," he cleared his throat. "I-I guess I'll see you around, Cupcake. Call me if you need anything."_

"_Yeah, sure," I replied. "Take care, Joe."_

_Click._

_My heart filled with sorrow. Did I mess things up with him before something even began?_

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 22<strong>

I smoothed out my new sleeveless black sheath pleated dress after greeting two elderly women. "Thank you so much for coming," I shook an elderly man's hand.

"Alyssa," a blond woman walked over to me and hugged me warmly. A little boy and girl peeked out from behind each side of her legs — the Russo family. "I know what you did for us. We don't even know how to begin to thank you for what you've done for our family," a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Shana, there's no need for you to thank me. I just hope that when your children grow up that you'll tell them about Charles and Suzie."

"We definitely will," a man said stepping out from behind Shana holding an infant. "We can't thank you enough," he took my hand.

I smiled and nodded showing them the way in. I stared at my feet fixated on the little hot pink toe sticking out of my peep toe black pumps. After giving my statement to Misty's cousin in-law Officer Eddie Gazarra, I needed to do something to cheer myself up.

"You look beautiful, Kitten."

I looked up into Dickie's blue eyes, "Thank you, Dickie. And thank you for taking care of all of the paperwork so quickly, I truly appreciate it." On any other given day, I probably would've bitten Dickie's head off at first contact. But this was a day of peace and celebration of Suzie Oz's life. It wasn't about me and my issues with Dickie.

"You know I'd do anything for you, Kitten," he kissed my cheek.

"Cupcake," Joe said in a steady voice. "Orr," he nodded towards Dickie.

The last time Joe encountered Dickie was at the precinct after the Pinky incident. Dickie had once again professed his love for me and showed me how much he cared for me caused him to end up on the ground with a bloody nose courtesy of Joe Morelli. Luckily for Joe, Dickie was too frightened of him to press charges.

I looked up into Joe's warm chocolate eyes. "Joe." Dickie slipped away realizing he had no chance as Joe and I locked eyes.

"I miss you, Cupcake."

My heart skipped a beat, "I miss you too."

"I'm sorry," we both said in unison.

"Ms. Chau, I think we're ready to get started," Mr. Stiva said quietly interrupting our little moment.

"Thank you, Mr. Stiva." I gave Joe a quick head nod and walked to the front of the room and sat down in the front row.

Father Bennett said a few words that I tuned out staring at Suzie's photo next to her casket. This would be the first funeral I've ever attended. You may be wondering how that could be considering that my life seems to be surrounded by death considering that both of my parents are dead as well as my childhood _Sifu_ who was like a grandfather to me and talk me the art of _Wushu Stick fighting. _

I spent most of the evening of my parents' death in a cold police station. The days following that fateful night, I spent in Social Services. And then I was suddenly relocated with a foster family. After my _Sifu_ passed away, I ran. It probably wasn't one of my proudest moments. But I was filled with such hurt for him leaving me that I packed up my bags and hopped on a bus for Trenton, NJ. I had received an acceptance letter and scholarship to go to school there at before _Sifu_ left this world, I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay in New York or leave everything behind. I felt as if he'd made that decision for me.

"And now, Alyssa Chau, has a few words she would like to say on behalf of Susanne Oz. Ms. Chau?"

Mr. Stiva tapped me lightly on the shoulder. I snapped back to reality and slowly made my way to the podium beside the casket. I took a deep breath and looked around the room. The chairs were filled with people of all age ranges who I guess were people Suzie knew from the community and the back of the room was filled with men and women in police uniforms. I couldn't help but notice the number of young women sporting short hairdos. I was amazed at the turnout, the room was filled with people and I couldn't even imagine why what seemed like the whole Trenton P.D. was attending Suzie's service.

I cleared my throat, "H-hi, I'm not really good with speeches but I'll try my best to do justice in Suzie's honor. First of all, I would like to thank all of you for coming. It's very obvious by the people who fill this room that Suzie was a much loved individual. I'm going to be straight forward with everyone about the fact that I don't feel like I deserve to be up here representing Suzie's life. As many of you probably already know, I only knew Suzie for about a month and our choice encounter was anything but common.

"And I can tell that some of you are looking at me as if you recognize me from somewhere. So let's clear the air so that we can get back to focusing on Suzie. That's right, I am the _Bombshell Bounty Hunter_ that tried to bring in Suzie Oz for breaking and entering into The Russo's home about a month ago," I gestured towards the Russo's.

"And despite my nickname, I still stand by the fact that _I_ didn't actually blow anything up. But what many of you don't know is that within one month, my entire life changed and Suzie was one of those people who made an impact on my life. Suzie was a strong woman and she proved that to me by tackling me to the ground and attacked me with her water hose when I tried to apprehend her."

The crowd chuckled.

"But what many of you don't know is why Suzie broke into the Russo's home. The story I'm about to tell you is a story of undeniable true love between a man and a woman. Charles Oz fell in love with Suzie Ricci when they were merely five years old when she took his hand and helped a timid Charles across the rope bridge on the playground. Ten years later they shared their first kiss on stage of their high school production of _Bye Bye Birdie._ And never stopped letting go of each other since.

"For three years Charles had saved up all of his money from doing side jobs from mowing lawns and delivering the morning paper to buy Suzie the perfect engagement ring. A year later they were pronounced Mr. and Mrs. Charles Oz.

"Suzie was an adventurous woman at heart. Fiercely passionate and wildly independent and Charles did everything in provide for her and to help support and maintain her independence. He worked tirelessly as an architect and travelled the world with Suzie at every chance he had.

"They were incredibly generous people who spent a great deal of time giving back to the community. A lot of their time was spent working with at-risk children helping them focus on their education and giving them a second chance at life. Suzie believed that everyone had goodness in their hearts. It was just a matter of helping them find it. Charles' and Suzie's wallets may have never been big but their hearts certainly were.

"Seven years later, Charles surprised Suzie with a little house he worked tirelessly for years to build for her. It was exactly everything that she wanted, a little white house with a tiny yard perfect for a vegetable garden. They built the house into a home together pouring their love into that little house for more than thirty years.

"Charles wanted Suzie to have everything, so he bought her a bigger home shortly after his big promotion. A short four years after Charles retired, he passed away in his sleep. Charles and Suzie never had children and no surviving relatives. Their motto was always 'it's us against the world.'

"Suzie broke into the Russo's home because the home they currently live in is that very house that the Oz's built together. The very home they shared more than half of their lives in. Suzie wanted to feel her late husband's presence. And through the kindness of the Russo's they understood Suzie's request and during the last month of Suzie's life, they invited her into their home on several occasions to join them for a meal.

"To continue Charles and Suzie's love legacy, Suzie has left her house to the Russo family so that they may soak in the love and adventure that she and Charles shared in their homes. I was incredibly blessed to have known Suzie in the last weeks of her life. She taught me what unconditional love was like, she treated me like I was her own grandchild and saw everything as an opportunity and an adventure," tears filled my eyes.

"Suzie, I know that you and Charles are reunited once again and I hope that you are continuing on in your adventures. I promise to you that I will take life by the horns and never give up on searching for the goodness in people. I hope that one day I will be as lucky to be able to share in that unconditional love that you and Charles shared. You will be missed by many and you will never be forgotten. I love you," I blew a kiss.

A boisterous thunder of applause filled the room as I took my seat. Father Bennett made some closing remarks before ending the service.

"Alyssa," Carl gave me a big hug joined by several other uniformed men standing with him. "Everyone at the precinct knows about the generous donation you made."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Carl. Suzie had it stipulated in her Will."

"Alyssa, I know how modest you are. And Suzie Oz was no friend of the Trenton P.D. She and Charles were down at the precinct almost every other week causing a ruckus trying to get their at-risk kids off on charges all of the time. They were no fans of law enforcement. We know this was of your doing. And we thank you because now our officers have the ability to upgrade our safety equipment keeping our men in blue safer on the streets. On behalf of the precinct we salute you."

All of the men stood at attention and saluted me, I cried harder at the sight of their appreciation.

Joe swung his arm around my shoulders, "Cupcake, you did a really great thing for the community. Everyone knows Suzie left a great deal of money to you and you didn't keep a single penny of it. You're kind of a silent local hero," he kissed my hair.

"Alyssa!" a voice squealed. "That was such a beautiful eulogy. I'm so sorry for your loss." Misty threw her arms around me shoving Joe aside. "It's a really beautiful service. I'll have to make sure I list you as the person I want to oversee my services."

"Misty, what a horrid thought!"

"Don't worry. I plan to be in your life until you're old and wrinkled. I was just saying as a precautionary thought." She grabbed my hand and pulled me over to a corner, "I heard that you were witness to another hair attack this afternoon at the mall! Why didn't you call me?"

"My phone's dead, Mis. Otherwise I would've called you."

"Is she ok?"

I nodded, "Yeah she was chloroformed, like you. The attacker took off in a black sedan. It happened too fast, I didn't get the make or license plate."

"Well, she seems to be getting ballsier now. Attacking people at a crowded mall, she's getting cocky about not getting caught."

"Well, she's bound to make a mistake sooner or later. Anyways, I should be mingling or something like that since I'm the host and all," I sighed.

It felt like hours had passed by and I was getting tired of shaking people's hands. All of the people smothering me were overwhelming me. I wasn't used to having so many people draw their attention to me. But it was finally coming close to nine and most of the people had slowly filtered out.

"Alyssa, I really wish I could stay longer but I have to catch an early flight in the morning," Misty found her way back to me after spent the past hour chatting up a handsome officer.

"You're taking a trip?"

"Business. There's a conference in New York that I'm attending so I won't be back until late Monday. I heard about your apartment. I tried calling you but now I know why you weren't returning my calls. Do you need a place to stay cause if you'd like you are welcomed to crash at my place. You have my key."

"Thanks Misty. I'll figure something out, but if I need, I will definitely take you up on your offer."

Joe approached us quietly.

"So Morelli, any news on the hair-napper?" Misty sneered.

"Funny you should ask that. We happened to get an anonymous call about a fire at an apartment that happens to now be the suspect in the so-called 'hair-nappings' as you eloquently put it."

"Eloquent," Misty repeated. "Wow big words, Morelli. Color me impressed."

Joe ignored her snide comment and continued, "We have an APB out on the suspect in question. The most interesting part about it all is that there's a photo of you, Misty, but the hair seems to be missing. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"

"Not a clue but it is pretty interesting. Maybe it was such a hot commodity that she was able to sell it already," Misty replied batting her eyelashes.

"Maybe. The other interesting thing we found was that it seems that she really doesn't like you, Alyssa. She has a whole shrine dedicated to you. She not only wants to go after your hair which she seems to label as 'virgin' hair. She wants to see harm done to you. Of my entire law enforcement career, I've never met someone with so many stalkers and enemies who wasn't a part of a mob family. You aren't, are you, Cupcake?"

"Ha ha. Very funny, Joe. Don't start with me. This isn't the time or place," I glared at him seeing where the conversation was starting to head towards. "Misty, I need some air, I'll walk you out."

We left Joe and walked out the front. "Thanks for coming, Mis. It really means a lot to me," I hugged her.

"Of course, you know I'd do anything for you."

"I know."

"I wonder who's delicious Porsche that is," she pointed to the sleek black car parked next to the dumpster. "There's no way anybody in there could own something of that magnitude."

"It's Ranger's."

"But I didn't see him in there."

"He's not in town. He kind of…lent it to me."

"Wow, that's some major trust letting you drive a piece of machinery like that with your track record."

"I know. It makes me nervous."

"I want to sit in it! Unlock it for me."

I held up the key fob and the car lights flashed and beeped. A loud explosion came from inside of the green dumpster and it flew up into the air landing directly on top of Ranger's once shiny immaculate Porsche.

I stood with my mouth hanging open.

"Did what I think just happen, happen?" Misty squeaked.

"Ranger's car," I said slowly as the blood drained from my face.

"Ranger's going to kill you," Misty said softly.

"I know," I squealed, "but all I keep thinking about is how I lost Salt 'n Pepa again."

"You really do live up to your reputation, Beautiful."

"Shit! Where the hell did you come from?" I jumped.

"Tank and I were at the service. Didn't you see us?"

"No…" I've been too distracted to really pay attention and I didn't know most of the people at the service.

"I'm going to love the look on Ranger's face when he's told about his Porsche," Lester chuckled. "It was his favorite."

I blanched. I just destroyed Ranger's very expensive favorite car. Somebody strike me down now.

"What the hell happened?" Joe ran out of Stiva's.

"The dumpster exploded," Misty exclaimed.

A handful of uniforms came running out of the funeral home guns drawn. "What's he doing here?" Joe clenched his fist referring to Lester.

"He's here being supportive as a friend," I replied curtly.

"Shit, is that Ranger's car?" he chuckled. "He's going to love this. That'll teach him to lend you his car again."

I shot him a glare that I hoped would make him burst into flames but nothing happened except for my eyestrain.

"Alyssa, I want you to go back inside. It's not safe out here," Joe commanded.

I stomped my foot and said nothing. Grabbing Misty's arm, we headed back inside the funeral home.

"I need to hit the ladies room. Are you going to be ok for a few minutes?"

"Yeah," I went and sat down in the now empty room staring at Suzie's casket. "I hope this wasn't what you meant by unplanned adventures," I said out loud to Suzie.

I felt movement behind me and turned my head quickly as a sharp shiny object grazed my chin and a clump of hair floated to my lap.

"You, bitch! You made me mess up!" an angry woman cursed at me.

I jumped up out of my seat and was faced to face with the woman I assume was Beatrice Potts.

She was holding a pair of large shears. "You've ruined my life!"

"How so?" I stood in a defensive stance.

"Like you don't know! Because of you, I can't run my business. You had to have the cops snooping around and tear up all of Stratton's properties! You've ruined everything! I have to resort to a life of petty crime to make rent," she charged at me with scissors.

"Isn't that what an insurance policy is for?" I stepped over to the side and tripped her.

"My policy lapsed so I wasn't covered!" she squelched stumbling back to her feet. "I was too busy, I let it slip."

"So, how is that my fault?" I fell into Suzie's casket as Potts caught me off guard shoving me from behind. "If you ask me, it's your fault. And you're punishing innocent, unsuspecting women for your negligence," I yelled trying to regained my balance.

"Don't try and transfer the blame on me," she shouted lunging at me with the shears.

I let out a loud shriek as I crashed into the casket once more this time knocking it off of the table and the lid flew open. I lay sprawled across the casket on top of Suzie's dead corpse. She was aiming the sheers at my face and I struggled to hold her back when a loud gunshot went off. Potts grabbed me defensively and held the sheers up to my neck.

"Fucking, bitch!" Misty shouted aiming her gun at Potts. "Let go of my friend! If you cut her hair, she won't have anything else going for her."

Uh, thanks a lot, Misty.

"She ruined my life!" Potts shouted.

"And I thought you ruined mine when you cut my hair but look at it now. Men think I'm _frisky_," she smiled fluffing her hair.

Minutes later Joe, four uniforms, and Lester busted into the room guns drawn.

"Freeze," Joe shouted.

I took the startling opportunity to shove Potts off of me but ended up slicing my neck in the process. Misty dove for Potts and kicked her in the face. I stood up to help Misty but saw Potts slumped on the floor and Misty standing over her with a stun gun in one hand and her gun in the other.

"Yeah bitch! That'll teach you to mess with Misty Plum!" Misty kicked her in the side.

"Place your gun on the ground slowly and put your hands in the air," Joe instructed Misty with his gun aimed on her.

"Relax, Morelli," she tossed it on the ground. "I didn't shoot her. She's just stunned."

Joe picked up the gun and placed it in an evidence bag before handing it to one of the uniforms I didn't recognize.

"Misty, for your sake, I hope that thing's registered," Joe said.

"Of course it is, Morelli. It was nice of you to show up minutes too late though. You're doing a fine job," she snickered.

"Looks like you've got a full night of unexpected adventures, Alyssa," Carl chuckled.

I shot Carl an evil glare.

"Cupcake, you're bleeding." Joe approached us as Misty was helping me to my feet.

Stiva came running in with two other men who worked for him trying to recover the casket and Suzie.

"Yeah, I just got nicked," I replied.

"Once again, Morelli. I've done your job for you. There's your suspect packaged up all nicely for you and you didn't even have to lift a single finger," Misty mocked.

"Ok, Misty. I got the point. I should've taken this case more seriously, I'm sorry," Joe replied.

"Well, I can't stick around any longer," she dismissed him. "I'll give my statement to my cousin Eddie, and I need to head home to get ready for my trip. Are you going to be ok, Alyssa?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Go home. This is just like any other day for me apparently," I gave her a quick hug and she left the building with her cousin.

"What's her problem with me?" Joe asked.

I shrugged, "She's not a fan of the Morelli clan and she dated your Cousin Mooch in high school."

"Well, that explains it then. You're coming home with me tonight, Cupcake. There's no way I'm letting you out of my sight."

"I'm fine, Joe."

"I'm not taking no for an answer. I need to check with the CSI team if they've found anything on the explosion. Apparently your new friend is an explosives expert and is helping the team identify the type of bomb. Oh and Alyssa, please don't go anywhere. I want you to stay put."

I rolled my eyes.

"I mean it."

"Fine," I plopped down back in the seat.

"Beautiful, are you ok? Maybe you should get those cuts looked at," Lester popped up out of nowhere and turned my head to look at the cut closer.

"Aren't you needed outside? I thought Joe said you were the explosives expert of something."

"That's Tank."

"I think you should go check up on him. You never know if he needs back up something."

"Beautiful, I'm going to stay by your side. You can't get rid of me."

"Lester," I pleaded. "Tonight has been a rollercoaster for me. I haven't had a chance to be alone and I need some time to mourn Suzie. Please? I promise I won't move from this spot."

"Fine, Beautiful, but I'm only giving you five minutes. I don't like leaving you alone for too long given that someone just tried to blow you up again."

"I'll be fine, Les. The place is swarming with black and whites and you and Tank are only a hop and skip away," I reassured him.

He nodded, "Five minutes."

I watched him walk out the door and relaxed back in the seat and stared at Suzie's photo. Stiva and the two other men had moved the casket out of the room leaving me alone in peace and quiet.

"I'm going to miss you, Suzie," I whispered blinking back tears.

"Alyssa, I've been waiting all night for you," a low sinister voice rumbled into my ear.

I felt a prick in the back of my neck and darkness fell.

* * *

><p><em>Sorry to leave you hanging here, but I hope you enjoying the story so far. Have a wonderful weekend and more to come on Monday! <em>


	23. Chapter 23

_**A/N: **Sorry it's taken me so long to post just one chapter this week but it was a pretty difficult chapter to get through. Please be warned that there is violent angst in this chapter. I hope you enjoy the chapter and have a great weekend! =)_

_**Previous Chapter: **__"I'll be fine, Les. The place is swarming with black and whites and you and Tank are only a hop and skip away," I reassured him._

_He nodded, "Five minutes." _

_I watched him walk out the door and relaxed back in the seat and stared at Suzie's photo. Stiva and the two other men had moved the casket out of the room leaving me alone in peace and quiet._

"_I'm going to miss you, Suzie," I whispered blinking back tears._

"_Alyssa, I've been waiting all night for you," a low sinister voice rumbled into my ear. _

_I felt a prick in the back of my neck and darkness fell._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 23<strong>

I woke up lying face down on a musty, dirty loveseat with my head pounding. I sat up dizzily and realized that I had nothing on except for my bra and panties and my wrists were restrained in front with a man's belt. Willing my eyes to focus, I looked straight ahead and a bed began to fuzzily coming into focus. The room was not decorated; the walls were bare and filled with only simple furniture. In fact it gave me the feeling of a temporary holding cell.

I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand and realized that there was someone on the bed — a woman. Her hands were strapped down to the bed frame and a rag was tied around her mouth. She was naked and all I could focus on was her bright red cherry lips and the outline of her long flowing hair resembling a lot like — Candy!

I quickly jumped up to my feet and started running towards her but was close-lined by a large thick arm. I fell back into the couch and began coughing trying to catch my breath.

The man leaned his face into mine "It's not time yet, Alyssa. You'll get your present very soon," he pressed his lips onto mine and plunged his tongue deep into my mouth.

I bit down hard.

"Fucking bitch!" he pulled back quickly.

A painful sting surged across my face as his large hand connected with my cheek causing me to bite down on my lip drawing blood.

"What the fuck are you doing, Ramirez?" I spat at him.

"You're going to behave, Alyssa, while I give you your present or you'll be sorry for being a bad girl," he furnished a dagger and pressed it hard into my abdomen cutting into my flesh.

I cried out in pain.

Then he did something unexpected, he kissed me gently and bandaged up my cut. "I wouldn't want you to bleed out before I can get the chance to enjoy you," he kissed below my ear before he tied a rag over my mouth.

Pulling a gun out of the waistband of his jeans he waved it in my face warning me to stay put before walking over to Candy. He untied Candy's arms and removed her gag.

She immediately started begging, "Benny, baby, please. I'll do anything. Please don't hurt me. I promise I won't say nothin' to no one."

He flipped her around so that her head was pointing towards me on her back. He restrained her wrists together and held her arms above her head laying the gun and dagger on each side of her head and began undressing himself. Ramirez had this maniacal look in his eyes as he undressed himself and I felt myself almost pass out when he pulled out his massive cock.

He rammed himself into Candy and I watched her body buckle as she whimpered with each thrust. I looked around the room frantically trying to find an escape route, a weapon, anything to help get the both of us out of this situation. My eyes weren't completely focused yet and from what I could tell the room was bare and the windows were barred.

"Say my name," he sneered at Candy. "Tell me how much you want me."

"Oh Benny! There's no one like you, Baby. You make me feel so good," she cried wrapping her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss.

"That's right, bitch. Let Alyssa know how good _The Champ_ makes you feel."

They continued their sexual romp in the hay for what felt like hours. Candy grew more and more confident as they continued after all she was a professional. She gave Ramirez what he wanted and she did it without a single hint of regret until he shoved her back down on the bed and began strangling her as he pumped himself inside of her. His movements became more violent as time went on. Candy's whimpers turned to fake screams of ecstasy.

I was horrified at the scene unraveling in front of me. Of all my years, I've managed to shield myself from pornographic entertainment and now I have a front row seat to live show and I didn't know what to do. I was deeply disgusted but didn't have the means to hurl.

I leaned forward to stand up but Ramirez was faster grabbing the gun pulling the trigger as the bullet whizzed inches from me creating a small cloud of dust to fly from the sofa. I cowered back into the sofa feeling helpless. I wanted to do something to help Candy but I didn't know how. If I went charging at him, Ramirez would shoot me and then probably Candy. Blinking back tears, I was overwhelmed with fear and confusion as to what was the right thing for me to do.

"Open your eyes, Alyssa! I want you to watch. I want you to appreciate what I'm doing for you!" Ramirez roared slamming into Candy repeatedly.

Tears continued to flood my eyes. I shut them trying to push out the images from my head.

"I said look at me!" he snarled.

A loud blood curdling shriek tore through the room. My eyes flew open as I watched Ramirez drive the dagger into Candy's chest repeatedly.

"I told you to fucking watch me! I'm doing this for you!" Ramirez roared in crazed anguish.

Candy continued to makes sounds that I would never in my life be able to ever get out of my head. She had her head tilted back as her eyes few open staring directly at me with pure fear. She screamed until she began choking and gasping for air.

I shut my eyes as tears began stinging my eyes from the horrors unleashing in front of me and I was powerless to do anything about it. A searing pain pierced my shoulder as a bullet grazed my shoulder.

"I said I want you to fucking watch!" Ramirez boomed loudly.

I willed my eyes to open as my whole body froze. I forced myself to focus on the blood bath before me. I couldn't move or find the strength to try and scream over my gag. All I could do was gawk and think how all of this was my fault. Things always break or die around me.

I watched as he continued his savage mutilation of Candy's beautiful body until the muscles in her body convulsed and came to a slow twitch and laid lifeless except for the movements caused by Ramirez releasing his pleasure into her. Ramirez had a crazy fixated grin on his face. His whole body was covered in blood. He pulled the bloody dagger out of Candy's lifeless body and licked it as he stared intently into my eyes.

"I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did, Alyssa. Soon it'll be your turn. Soon, we'll be one," he tossed the dagger back onto the bed and made his way over to me.

He pulled me to my feet and led me over to the bed — over to Candy's dead body — next to the knife. He wrapped his massive hand around my chin and yanked my head towards Candy. Her lifeless eyes staring back at me as if she was accusing me. Blood was dripping from her beautiful plump cherry red lips.

"Do you see what I'm willing to give to you? How much my love runs deep for you." Ramirez began kissing my neck slowly and I kept the corner of my eyes fixated on the bloody dagger. He slid my bra strap down and took my nipple into his mouth gently and bit down hard. I bit back tears as he kissed down to my stomach.

He tore off the bandage off quickly causing me to wince in pain. He licked my wound generously. He pushed me gently down onto the bed, my skin met the cold stickiness of Candy's blood. I tried to ignore him as he viciously shoved Candy's still warm dead body off of the bed to make room for us. Pushing my bound hands above my head, he slowly kissed his way up the length of my body paying close attention to breasts. As he worked his way around the material surrounding my nipples, he grew impatient and tore the thin material off my body and tossed it to the ground. He rubbed his erect cock against me. The only thing separating us was the thin material of my panties.

"With you, we'll take it nice—" he dug his finger into my wound causing me to whimper in pain "—and slow. It'll be special, you and I," he gingerly swept my hair out of my face. "I will take my time enjoying you. But you will have to be patient for a little while longer," his voice was actually soft and kind but I could still see the crazed look in his eyes.

His eyes met mine, "I need to make sure that you're a good girl and stay here quietly while I get cleaned up. The Champ needs to refuel before he can focus on you," he stood up and pulled a large syringe out of the nightstand drawer.

Climbing back on top of me, he stuck the syringe into the side of my neck. Before he could empty the syringe, I jerked my head and swung my arms down on his head. I tried to ignore the fact that there was a needle sticking out of the side of my neck as I rolled over to where he had thrown the dagger. It took a few attempts before I could grasp onto the handle of the dagger. Ramirez grabbed my legs and pulled me towards the edge of the bed.

I struggled to wriggle myself over to the other side of the bed as I slid around on the bloody sheets. I was able to roll onto the other end of the bed as Ramirez charged wildly at me. I swung the blade wildly at Ramirez. I lost my balance and tripped over Candy's lifeless body and fell forward connecting the blade with his thigh. Thank god my luck hadn't quite run out. He stumbled backwards falling to the ground.

I quickly stepped over him. He grabbed my ankle causing me to fall to my knees. I jabbed my foot into his jaw and crawled my way to the door and managed to pry it open finding myself in a hallway. I ran down the hall banging on the doors hoping someone would come out and save me but nobody did.

Either this was an abandoned building or people were too scared to get involved. Growing up in Brooklyn has made me privy to so many different kinds of people who grace this earth. There are those diamonds in the rough who want to do good in the world and then there are those who want to live their own lives and not get caught up in any one else's business.

You can't blame either of the types for who they are. Because truthfully a good Samaritan could be punished for their good deed such as an old lady adding money to a parking meter for an unsuspecting stranger who's time is running short and is written a ticket for tampering with federal property. If you had a family to watch out for, getting involved could bring harm to your family.

Unfortunately, I've witnessed more of the later than I'd care to admit to. People walking by and ignoring a stranger being mugged in the alley or a ten year old being sold drugs by the local dealer on the playground. People choose to turn the other cheek because either it could endanger their lives and cause them more complication than they were willing to take on. Growing up some of the guys from the Youth Center would jokingly tell me that if I were to ever find a dead body to just walk away and pretend you never saw anything. The likelihood that the cops would name you as a suspect was generally high. A good deed could quickly turn into a punishment.

But as I said to them back then, what if it was your family or friend in need? Wouldn't you want someone to help them? What if it were you? Wouldn't you want someone to help you? I believe in doing unto those as you would want done unto yourself. I have faith that what goes around comes around. And no matter what, I will hold onto that faith.

People like Suzie Oz proved to me that there were good people in this world and were generously rewarded in life for their good deeds. She taught me to find the goodness in people. But honestly, she would be disappointed in me right now. I don't see any goodness in Ramirez. All I have is blind hatred for the man. How could a human being be that evil?

A red _Exit_ sign blinked at me furiously as I reached the door labeled _Stairs. _ I stumbled through the doors and descended down clumsily, I reached up and pulled the syringe out of my neck and threw it before slipping and catching the side of my thigh against a protruding piece of metal from the railing slicing into my thigh. Relief washed over me as my feet connected with the cold pavement and crisp night air hit my lungs. I ran out into what seemed to be a vacant street. I couldn't recognize anything. I ran towards the street as I heard the door slam behind me.

My head was yanked back by my hair and I was being dragged back towards the building. I kicked out violently as gravel began rubbing my skin raw and embedding into the back of my heels. Ramirez was moving slowly thanks to the stab wound in his thigh.

"You did a stupid thing, Alyssa," Ramirez grumbled angrily.

I reached my arms out and grabbed onto the side of the door frame and drove my right foot back connecting with his thigh. He released his grip and fell to his knees. I dashed out into the street and kept running down the street hoping someone would drive by and see me.

I was naked and covered in blood. Someone was bound to feel sorry for me and try to help, right? Each time my foot connected with the hard pavement it sent sharp painful needles through my legs. Nausea began to wash over me and my eyes started to lose focus. The little bit of drug that entered into my system was finally slowly kicking in. But determined to kept me going; I spotted lights down the street that looked to be a well-lit underground parking garage and watched a car drive down the ramp as the doors began to open.

There was possible hope that the person driving the car saw me and might be willing to help me. I was too afraid to look back to see if Ramirez was still behind me, ignoring the pain, I pushed myself to at least reach the garage before the doors shut. If anything it was my only fighting chance of hope even if Ramirez was to catch up with me.

My vision began to blur as I caught up to the door at its halfway point of closing and stumbled down the hill into the lit garage and saw a camera. I looked up at the camera and stared at the blinking red light and watched as it turned into a blur. I was slowly going blind and I couldn't cry out through my gag.

I fell to my knees and wept before blacking out once again but before slipping into my unconscious state I could hear the sound of heavy boots running towards me and I cried silently to myself fearing the worst — that those heavy footsteps belonged to him.

My fate was sealed with Ramirez — there was no escape.


	24. Chapter 24

_**A/N: **Sorry it's just another chapter again this week. I was having a hard time loading onto the fanfic site and I had to pull myself away a bit after that last chapter. Thanks again for staying with me!_

_**Previous Chapter: **__I fell to my knees and wept before blacking out once again but before slipping into my unconscious state I could hear the sound of heavy boots running towards me and I cried silently to myself fearing the worst __—__ that those heavy footsteps belonged to him._

_My fate was sealed with Ramirez __—__ there was no escape._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 24<strong>

I woke up with a start and took in the white room that I was in. It resembled a hospital room but my head was still fuzzy and my eyes were out of focus. I knew I wasn't in the hospital because I could make out the outline of the man standing with his back turned to me by the counter was dressed in black and had what looked like the outline of a gun holstered to his side.

Was Ramirez having me patched up so that he could break me down again? The blood was semi-wiped clean, my stomach wound was re-bandaged, I was wearing a black t-shirt, and I was no longer bound and gagged. He must've thought that he gave me a high enough dosage of drugs thinking I would be unconscious for a lot longer.

I closed my eyes once again pretending to still be asleep as the man approached the side of my bed and laid his hand on my head as if he was petting me. I waited a couple of seconds after he stepped away from me to take a peek, as he disappeared into a room that looked like a storage closet. I quietly slid off of the bed and grabbed a shiny object off of the tray next to the bed which I was guessing was a scalpel and peeked out the door.

I was definitely not in a hospital. It was some sort of high tech office facility. I slipped out the door quickly before the man could come out of the close and spot that I was missing. My sight was still a little hazy but I instinctively ran towards a blurry red sign that I assumed again was the exit. I went through the doors and tumbled down a several flights of stairs due to the jelly-like sensation in my legs.

I reached a small hallway through the doors at the bottom of the stairs until I saw another lit red sign. I busted through the doors only to find myself back in the garage that I had retreated to escape Ramirez.

"Stop her!" a voice shouted.

A rumbling of several feet running towards me sent fear throughout my body. I couldn't see what was happening but I was suddenly surrounded by a number of large blurry men in black. Where had I stumbled into? Had I run away from Ramirez only to find myself in another situation?

I cried out defensively, "Stay away from me!" waving the scalpel frantically in front of me in slashing motions.

One of the men grabbed me as I thrashed about. I kept shrieking at the top of my lungs trying to keep these men away from me. I thought I heard one of them shout my name but I was too terrified and just wanted to get away.

"Hold her still or she'll tear open her stitches!" a voice boomed over the sea of black men.

"Please don't hurt me," I cried kicking out at the men stabbed the scalpel into the arm wrapped around my chest.

"Fuck!" he cursed. "Beautiful, we're not going to hurt you. You're safe," he whispered in my ear before I felt a familiar prick in my arm and again I slipped into a cold dark abyss.

_I stared at Candy's dead bloody body on the bed._

_Her eyes flew open, "This is your fault. You did this to me! Why me? My life was fine until you came along." _

_She rose from the bed, blood dripping from her naked body as she approached me. "I'm going to do to you what he did to me. You should've helped me." _

_She lifted her bloody hands to show me, "This should be your blood!" She pulled the dagger out of her chest and there was blood spraying everywhere. So much blood…she drew the bloody dagger above her head and swung down at me._

"Please, no! I'm sorry!" I jerked awake crying. I was back in the white room. Sitting up in a panic, I clutched into my stomach in pain.

"Beautiful, you have to relax," a hand reached out and touched my arm to calm me down.

I spun my head to see Lester and his worried eyes sitting next to my bed. "L-Lester?" I choked as tears streamed down my cheeks.

"Yes, Beautiful. You're safe. But you have to calm down."

I began weeping as he wrapped his arms around me. "There's so much blood…"

Another man approached the bed he had a white lab coat over his black uniform. I tensed up.

"It's ok, Beautiful. It's just Bobby," he reassured me in a soothing tone.

"Alyssa, I'm really sorry you woke up frightened earlier. We should've made sure that there was a more familiar face for you to wake up to. I just didn't know how quickly you'd wake up since we weren't sure how much of the drug was in your system. It must've been frightening to wake up not knowing where you were and on top of that waking up to a scary looking fool like myself. I apologize," he smiled warmly.

"Y-you're not scary looking. I was a little blind. I-it's not your fault," I replied desperately clinging onto Lester for familiarity sake.

"Alyssa, I'm sorry that you're still in the state that you are but I was afraid to get you cleaned up before speaking with you. Do you know who did this to you?"

I nodded, "Ramirez." I could feel Lester's muscles tense up around me.

"I know this is going to be a difficult question to answer, but I have to ask it…Alyssa, did he…" Bobby hesitated before continuing. "Did he rape you?" his eyes grew intense as the words escaped his mouth.

I shook my head vigorously and paused suddenly. "I-I don't think so…I-I don't know. If he did…I was unconscious for it," I wept silently.

Lester squeezed me tighter.

"I know this is going to feel intrusive, Alyssa. But I'll need to perform a rape kit on you to be sure. And if you were," he paused, "then we'll be able to use the DNA lock up Ramirez for good."

I nodded my head and buried my face in Lester's chest, "Please don't leave me," I said desperately hating how vulnerable I sounded but too scared to care.

"I'm not going anywhere, Beautiful. I'm stay as long as you want me to. Hell, I may even stay when you ask me to leave you alone!" he chuckled squeezing me tightly to his chest.

"Can you tell us what happened? I can understand if it's too difficult for you," Bobby asked gently.

"No, I can do it," I tried to say firmly. "But can I ask you something first?"

"Of course."

"Where am I?"

"You're at Rangeman, Beautiful. You'll be safe here. This building is fully monitored 24/7. Nobody will get in here without us knowing or by invitation."

"R-Ranger?" I choked.

"I'm sorry, Beautiful. But he's still in the wind. Tank called him and left him a message to clue him in on the situation. He would be here for you if he could," he brushed my hair front my face with his arm that looked newly bandaged.

I reached out and touched it, "I did that didn't I? I'm so sorry, Les. I-I was just so scared. I thought you were with him," I fought back the urge to cry again and bit into my lip as the doors swung open.

"It's ok. I'm just glad you still had some fight in you," he smiled kissing my head gently.

"Little Girl," a deep voice called out to me with concern.

"Tank," I cried tears poured out of my eyes. _So much for holding back the tears._ "I-I'm sorry. I swear I didn't go anywhere I wasn't supposed to. I did stay put," sobbed loudly.

"Little Girl, this is not your fault. I'm proud of you for being able to escape. We've been combing the area for hours searching for you. We were afraid we would've found you too late. You left your purse behind."

"M-my purse."

"We've been tracking your cell phone."

That's how they kept showing up. Ranger was having me tracked. I was too grateful at the moment to be angry for the invasion of my privacy.

"I'm glad you're safe and Bobby here is going to take good care of you," Tank nodded at Bobby.

"It's not fair that I'm safe. It is my fault," I shouted angrily. "C-Candy's dead and it's entirely my fault! Lula's in the hospital because of me!"

"Little Girl, calm down or Bobby'll sedate you again!" he commanded.

I sobbed and tried breathing slower.

"This is Ramirez's fault, Alyssa. Not yours," Bobby spoke up. "She was about to tell us about what happened," he turned to Tank.

Tank gave him a curt head nod.

"That is if you're still up to it," his gaze turned to me.

I nodded my head leaned into Lester for support. I told them everything that I could remember starting from the funeral home to ending up in the Rangeman garage.

"Shit," Lester muttered exasperated pressing his head into my hair. "How lucky was it that you ended up stumbling into Rangeman's garage?"

I sniffled, "Ranger said I had a long stream of good luck."

Lester chuckled, "He's got that right."

"Rangeman and the Trenton P.D. have been working together tearing up the streets looking for you. I'll pass this information along to Morelli who's been heading up the case," Tank said solemnly.

"You're working with Joe?" I cried in astonishment at how he set his male pride and was willing to work with Ranger's men to look for me knowing fully how he felt about them.

"I-I need to talk to him."

Tank nodded, "But I think you're safer staying here for a while. As much as I would like to think handing you off to the police is a good idea, I feel that we, here at Rangeman, are better equipped to keep you safe."

I nodded my head in agreement, "I just want to talk to him. Let him know I'm ok myself."

He handed me his cellphone.

"Yeah," a voice barked over the phone.

"J-Joe…it's me," I whispered.

"Shit, Cupcake. Where are you? We've been looking all over for you," his voice dripping with panic and concern.

"I-I'm fine, Joe. I'm with Tank," I paused, "H-he killed Candy," I wailed loudly.

"I know. We found her. In a dumpster on Comstock along with the black dress you were wearing at the funeral covered in blood. Fuck, Cupcake. I didn't know what to think when I saw your dress. I just started thinking the worst," I could hear the wear in his voice.

"I'm sorry I worried you, Joe."

"Where are you? I'll come get you. I need to see for myself that you're ok."

"No, I don't want you to. I'm safe, Joe. Please trust me."

"I hate this, Alyssa. There's been a few hookers turning up suffering brutal stab wounds."

I gasped, "How long have I been missing?"

"You don't know? You've been gone for at least 24 hours. The women are all in critical condition but they're still alive. So far the only woman found dead was Candy, but all of the women have said they needed to relay a message…"

"What message, Joe?"

_Pause._

"Tell me!" I screeched clutching onto the phone.

"Cupcake…" he sighed in frustration.

"I need to know, please," I hiccupped.

"They said Ramirez wants you to know that there will be more _presents_, Alyssa. More, until he finds you."

My heart stopped.

"Then give me to him," I said firmly pulling myself out of Lester's embrace. "I shouldn't have run away. If the only way to lure him out and to get him to stop is me then give me to him. This is my fault. And I want to put a stop to it."

Lester squeezed my arm tight.

"Cupcake, this isn't your fault. Ramirez is a psychopath. You're right, it's best you stay with Tank while we look for Ramirez. We've got ever available man on the street. I need you to stay where it's safe so that I can concentrate on finding the bastard."

"Misty!" I panicked.

"She's fine," he reassured me. "She wanted to stay after you disappeared but I convinced her that the best thing for her to do was to stay safe and leave town. I sent Gazarra over to escort her to the airport to make sure she left town safely. She's fine, Cupcake. I'll call her right after I get off the phone to let her know that we've found you and that you're safe."

"Thank you," I said softly. "Joe, I don't like this at all. You have to be careful too. The pictures…"

"Cupcake, don't you worry about me. I'll catch the bastard. I miss you."

"I miss you too," I tried to smile.

"Do you remember anything? Any clues to help us find him?"

I shook my head, "No, I was drugged up most of the time he had me. I didn't recognize where I was but I did stab him. I stabbed him in the leg with the dagger he killed Candy with. He was walking with a limp."

"That's at least something. I'll have some men check out the surrounding hospitals."

"Tank needs to talk to you now. Promise you'll stay safe."

"Cupcake, all I have the ability to do is worry about you right now and to catch that son of a bitch."

"Joe, please promise," I begged.

"I promise, Cupcake," he let out a loud exhausted sigh.

"Thank you," I whispered as I handed the phone back to Tank and he left the room.

I looked back at Lester whose eyes were filled with rage.

"Ok, Alyssa," Bobby said breaking the silence. "I was able to stitch up that nasty cut on your lip and abdomen and I removed the sediments out of your heels. I'm going to perform the rape kit now if you're ok with it."

I nodded. I'd rather get all of the unpleasantries out of the way instead of dragging it out longer than needed.

"Everyone needs to clear the room," Bobby announced.

I felt Lester shift and I grabbed onto him frantically, "Don't leave!"

He relaxed and kissed the top of my head. "Beautiful, Bobby's going to need to examine you thoroughly. He can't do that with me standing over him looking all angry. I'm going to be on the other side of that door," he pointed, "and I won't go anywhere. I promise you, you're in good hands with Bobby. If you need me, you just shout and I'll be here. I'm not going anywhere. Ok?"

I nodded reluctantly releasing my death grip on Les.

Bobby pulled the curtain shut around the bed and methodically examined every inch of my body. Every now and then his face would reveal an angry scowl as he made notes to his clipboard. Everything he did, he explained carefully to me before moving forward which helped put me at ease. Once he once done, he covered me back up and pulled the curtain open.

"Santos, you can come back in," he called out and Les immediately appeared beside me.

"There was no sign of any tissue tearing leading me to believe that Ramirez did not have a chance to touch you."

"Thank God," Lester blew out a sigh of relief.

A woman with salt and pepper hair walked into the room dressed all in black. She gave me a warm smile and clasped my hand, "It's so good to see you awake, my dear. You had all these men so worried."

"This is Ella. She's our building manager and den mother," Bobby smiled warmly. "She looks out for the building and for us big oafs."

"Let's get you cleaned up. There are no available apartments on the fourth floor so Tank has instructed me to take seventh floor per Ranger's instructions."

Bobby nodded his head, "Thank you, Ella."

Lester lifted me out of the bed and carried me into an elevator. We entered into an immaculate apartment filled with a lot of deep browns and decorated with simple modern furniture. It felt like a fancy hotel suite since there were no personal effects found anywhere.

Lester set me down onto the toilet gingerly. "I'll be in the Living Room so if you need anything, just give a shout," he reassured me before leaving me in Ella's capable hands.

She helped me into a large porcelain tub and scrubbed away all of the evidence of Ramirez's terror. I watched as the blood swirled down the drain and disappeared. It was so simple, to just wash away the evidence — to make all of the blood disappear. Physically I could watch the blood disappear down the drain, but mentally, I would never forget all of the blood…it felt like it was happening to me all over again…

Tears spilled from my eyes. I wanted my mom. There was just too much blood. It was too much, I couldn't get to her…there was nothing I could do. I couldn't reach out to her. All I could do was watch as the blood spilled out of her.

Ella wrapped me in a large plush towel and held me close to her as I wept.

"Shhh…dear. It's ok. Everything's going to be ok," she said soothingly as she rocked me back and forth whispering soft words in spanish. "These men are going to take good care of you. Nobody will hurt you here. You're safe."

There was a soft knock at the door and Lester stuck his head in, "Is everything ok?"

"Everything's fine, dear," Ella answered. "Why don't you get dressed, dear, and then I'll send Bobby in to fix you up. I'm sorry I don't have any clothes that fit you, but I'll have something for you in the morning," she said to me.

I nodded my head, "Thank you."

"It will get better, dear," she kissed my forehead and left the room.

I pulled on an oversized black t-shirt and was immediately engulfed in a comforting familiar aroma.

A few minutes later a knock came from the door. "Are you decent?" Lester called from the door.

I hobbled over to the door and opened it wincing in pain. I looked back on the floor and noticed the bloody footprints I left behind me tears sprung from my eyes as I collapsed to the floor.

"Oh, Beautiful," Lester scooped me up in his arms and sat me down on the bed.

"I'm sorry, I got blood on the floor. I-I got blood everywhere," I started crying hysterically.

I looked down at the white sheets on the bed and saw a drop of blood. I watched it grow bigger and bigger. I stood up quickly and yanked them off the bed and threw them to the ground.

Ella rushed into the room with a rag and spray bottle followed by Bobby. "Dear, I don't want you to worry about any of that. You worry about taking care of yourself."

Bobby laid me down on my back and re-dressed my stomach bandages and wrapped up my feet which were rubbed raw. Lester sat beside me on the bed and stroked my arm gently.

After I finally calmed down, Ella fed me with a delicious Chicken Marsala. If anything positive were to come out of this whole experience, it was meeting Ella. She was a domestic goddess. Bobby kept fussing over me checking my temperature, checking my bandages, etc.

"Bobby, I'm fine," I kept trying to reassure him.

"Are you sure? Are you in pain? I can give you something for it if you need."

I shook my head, "No, pain is good. It means that I'm still alive."

"Spoken like a true solider," Lester laughed. "Didn't I tell you this one was something?" Lester said to Bobby.

He smiled and nodded, "You sure did. Call me the minute you feel like something's wrong. There's a list of numbers by the phone. Feel free to wander around the building if you feel restless. The whole building is secured. Offices are on Five but at this time of night anyone working will either be on the field or in the Control Room which is on the Ground Floor."

"Thank you for everything, Bobby."

"No problem, Bomber," he kissed my forehead.

I scrunched my nose as he left the room.

"It's not that bad of a nickname," Lester chuckled. "It could be worse. You could be klutz or garbage girl or—"

"—Ok! I get the point," I socked him in the arm.

I slid under the covers and laid my head down on the big soft fluffy pillow. Ella had put down fresh new sheets that felt heavenly.

He laid down pulling me into him. I looked up and could see the dark bags under his eyes. He never went home or got any sleep since the last time we were in his apartment is my best bet.

"Go home, Les. I'm fine," I said feeling guilty for being so selfish in asking him not to leave me earlier. "Besides you look like hell," I added hoping he'd see past my guilty and take it as a vote of confidence.

This brought a smile to his face, "I brought your box and placed it in the closet and your Monster is in the kitchen window. I thought you'd like them with you."

"Thanks, Les," I smiled. "Truly I'm fine. I want to be alone."

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay? I think it'd be fun to explain to Ranger that I slept in his bed with you," he grinned relentlessly.

"Ranger's bed?" I looked up at him.

He nodded, "Yup, this is Ranger's apartment at Rangeman."

"I'm in his bed?" I squeaked.

"Don't get your panties all in a twist, Beautiful. He's not going to be walking in on you. He's still in the wind for a couple more days so you're safe. Now, I'm going to offer once more. You know I want to stay here with you."

"I'm fine, Les. Go home, please."

"Ok, I'm going. Do not hesitate to ask for help, you hear me?"

I nodded.

He kissed the top of my head and slid out of the bed, "Try to get some sleep, Beautiful. This will all be sorted out before you know it." He paused before slipping out the door. "One more thing, Beautiful, you did good tonight. Don't ever doubt yourself." With that last remark he disappeared behind the door.

I tossed and turned for hours trying to sleep but every time I closed my eyes I saw Ramirez's face laughing manically covered in blood. I sat up dripping in sweat. To help calm my nerves, I decided to do some exploring around Ranger's apartment — ok, maybe it was actually more snooping than exploring but it's not every day that one gets the chance to get an inside look at Batman's crib. The whole room lingered of Ranger's scent. Could this be the Batcave? Lester said it was his apartment but I didn't see any intimate personal affects anywhere inside of the apartment.

I opened the closet door which was filled with neatly lined black cargo pants, black shirts, black shoes, black suits, etc. Not a single ounce of color except for my little brown box with the pink bow tied around it tucked in the corner on the top shelf.

I opened the dresser drawer and saw lines of neatly lined balls of black socks and neatly folded black t-shirts in another. My curiosity got the best of me as I continued going through the drawers trying to see what kind of man Ranger was — boxers or briefs? All I was able to find was a single pair of black silk boxers. I removed the boxers and slipped them on. They felt cool against my skin and hung low on my waist.

I went into the kitchen and smiled at Monster who looked oddly out of place in the pristine kitchen. I opened up the fridge only to find it filled with bottles of water, fresh fruits and vegetables and cheese. Pulling the cupboards open, I didn't find anything better. It was just filled with whole wheat crackers and rice cakes.

Yuck. I scrunched my nose — typical Ranger rabbit food.

I hobbled over to the front door and saw a key fob sitting in a dish by the door. I was guessing that was the key to the apartment, I grabbed it and slowly made my way down to the fifth floor. I walked the halls and saw a single room with the light on. I headed towards the light and stumbled into the room which turned out to be an office.

"What are you doing up, Little Girl?" Tank said from behind a large desk.

"I couldn't sleep," I replied. "And there's no ice cream in Ranger's apartment. What are you doing?"

"Just finishing up some paperwork," Tank answered standing up.

"Do you mind if I stay here with you? It's lonely upstairs," I said quietly.

He stood up and grabbed my hand pulling me into his lap on the couch. He then did the most unexpected thing and kissed the top of my head. This was the most affection I've never seen Tank offer and it felt good.

"I keep seeing her face," I whispered burying my face in his chest.

"I know it's hard, Little Girl. I sometimes have nightmares too."

"You do?" I looked up at him.

He nodded his head, "We've all seen some very bad things but it's all a part of being a solider. You can't let it affect who you are. You have to fight the good fight and keep this pure," he said pointing at my heart.

"How do you make the images go away?"

"You just have to keep thinking of the good in world. Find something to focus on. You can't let this consume you or it'll do bad things to you."

My eyes clouded with tears. Tank pulled me close into him. I curled up into Tank's lap and buried my head into his chest and cried softly.

"There's just so much blood," I repeated as I sobbed into his chest.

Tank embraced me tighter, "It's going to be ok, Little Girl."

"When's Ranger coming back?"

"I don't know. A few days — maybe weeks. You just never know when you're on a mission. Nothing's ever a sure thing."

"What kind of mission is he on?"

"I can't tell you that, Little Girl."

"How did he sound when you told him?"

He kissed the top of my head.

I frowned. That wasn't an answer. I let out a yawn and my lids grew heavy as I listened to the steady sound of his breathing. His embrace was warm and comforting for a man who didn't seem to show much emotion. I was going to take what I could get in the form of comfort. It was going to be a long road ahead to fight this new evil that's made a place in my head.


	25. Chapter 25

_**A/N: **I'm sorry I didn't post anything last week. It's been a rough week as I had someone in my immediate family pass away from cancer. I truly appreciate those of you that have been keeping up with Alyssa's adventures. _

_**Previous Chapter: **__"What kind of mission is he on?"_

"_I can't tell you that, Little Girl."_

"_How did he sound when you told him?"_

_He kissed the top of my head._

_I frowned. That wasn't an answer. I let out a yawn and my lids grew heavy as I listened to the steady sound of his breathing. His embrace was warm and comforting for a man who didn't seem to show much emotion. I was going to take what I could get in the form of comfort. It was going to be a long road ahead to fight this new evil that's made a place in my head._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 25<strong>

_Ramirez's crazy eyes were dancing as he leaned into me and pressed his disgusting lips onto mine. "Just think of how wonderful it'd be when we become one."_

_ I closed my eyes to shut him out and when I opened them back up he was gone. It was just a horrible nightmare. I slowly pushed myself to sit up but my right hand slipped from under me as the bed was cold and slick. Had I wet myself in my sleep? _

_ I looked down at the pool of blood I had been sitting in. At the end of the bed sat Candy staring attentively at me. Her cherry red lips repeating, "Your fault," over and over again as she slowly crawled towards me with the bloody dagger._

_ "I'm sorry! I didn't know what to do. Please forgive me, I cried out to her. The blood was rising and I watched Candy disappear into the pool of blood. I tore off my shirt and started trying to soak up the blood around me as tears stung my eyes, but I couldn't soak up enough. It was only a matter of time that I, too, drowned in the blood with Candy._

_ "Babe!" _

_ I heard a voice call for me as I sank into the blood. "I'm sorry," I choked._

"Babe, wake up!"

I slowly opened my eyes to someone shaking me. Ranger's face came into focus. "Ranger," I said quietly. As I came out of the haze, I quickly pushed myself up and looked around at all of the blood surrounding me. I was naked and covered in blood.

I cried hysterically as I pushed the blankets away, "I'm s-sorry. There's so much blood. The blood is everywhere." I got out of the bed and tore at the sheets.

Ranger tried to grab at me but I swatted him away and stumbled to the bathroom and turned on the shower and sat staring at the drain watching the blood swirl away. The water suddenly stopped as a large towel was wrapped around me and I was moved to back into the bedroom and placed on the bed. I looked up into a pair of tired concerned eyes.

"Ranger?" I asked.

"Babe."

I laid my head down on his chest, "I thought you were a dream."

"I'm real."

"I thought you weren't coming home for a few days," I let a few tears fall from my eyes as I fisted his shirt.

"I had to come home to see with my own eyes that you were ok," he said kissing my hair gently. "I have to get going again soon."

I nodded. There was a light rap at the door. I looked up to see Bobby and Ella.

Tears flooded my eyes again, "I'm sorry, Ella. I ruined the sheets again."

"Oh my dear girl, there's nothing to be sorry about," she said cupping my face.

Ranger picked me up and moved me to the couch in the living room to allow Bobby to examine me.

"Alyssa, this is the second time you've torn your stitches. You're going to have to be more careful otherwise when it heals you're going to get a really ugly scar."

I nodded, "I'm sorry."

Bobby finished patching me up and Ranger moved me back to the bed and tucked me in. Ella brought me a cup of tea and both she and Bobby left the apartment.

"Thank you for coming back," I managed to smile at Ranger.

"Always, Babe," he kissed me lightly on the lips.

I rested in the safety of his arms for a few moments, soaking in his strong essence. Deep down I wanted to steal it — like a succubus. I wanted to absorb his power and strength and not feel like this weak and useless cowardly person who currently inhabited my body.

"Babe, you're stronger than you give yourself credit for."

"I don't feel like it."

"You are. Trust me."

We sat in silence. I tried concentrating on the steady sound of his breathing.

"Babe? Why is there a dead plant in my kitchen? And I think I saw a hint of pink in the corner of my closet."

"Don't touch the box or I'll poke your eyeballs out," I threatened. I mean it was probably not a healthy idea for me to threaten Batman but he needs to know how serious I am, right? "Besides, you could use a little splash of color in that dark black abyss you call clothes in that closet. Plus, Monster's not dead. He's just tired," I said quietly sipping on my tea.

"It's dead. I'll buy you a new one."

"No! He's just tired damnit! Leave him alone," I slurred as I finished off my cup of tea. My head started feeling cloudy. "Ranger, there's something wrong. I don't feel well," I said groggily.

"You need to sleep," he grabbed the cup from my hands and laid me down and kissed my head.

"You d-drugged me? H-how could you…" I cried slipping into my subconscious.

_**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**_

Several days had gone by and I was going stir-crazy from being cooped up in this building and the only information that I was being fed was that Ramirez had still not been found. My feet were almost fully healed. I learned to ignore the pains in my stomach but the nightmares continued. Most nights I woke up drenched in sweat confused as to where I was but as recognition sunk in I was able to fall back asleep with little stirring. Ranger had left after my first night in his apartment. I haven't heard from him since and I stopped asking Tank as he refused to give me anything to go on.

I took the elevator down to the fifth floor after watching cartoons and soap operas all afternoon. I found one of the doors that I believed to be the conference room shut. Carefully trying to be discreet, I peeked in the window and noticed the exhaustion consuming each man's eyes. I leaned my ear into the door trying to see if I could catch anything that they were saying when the door was suddenly yanked open.

"Little Girl, are you lost or something," Tank's voice boomed as my face slammed into his chest.

"Nope, just bored of sitting around," I replied casually.

I looked around him and caught a glimpse of the papers in the middle of the conference room table. I quickly snuck around him and busted into the room grabbing the photos on the table. There were tens of dozens of photos of brutally stabbed women strewn all over the conference table. I dropped the photos and threw up in the trashcan.

"Alyssa, you shouldn't be in here."

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" I shouted angrily at Tank wiping my mouth with the back of my hand.

"Because it doesn't concern you," he answered sternly.

"Like hell it doesn't," I swatted Bobby away as he magically appeared by my side. "This is my responsibility. This is happening because of me! These women are being brutalized and I'm hiding in this fancy building like a fucking coward."

"There's nothing you can do, Beautiful," Lester said in a soothing voice. "The Trenton PD and all of Rangeman are working round the clock to take down Ramirez. We're doing all that we can."

"I want you to tell me what's going and tell me now! And I want to know everything," I demanded sitting my bony ass into one of the empty chairs.

The men around me shifted in their seats uncomfortably.

"Alyssa—"

"—Tank, I'm not taking no for an answer and I'm not leaving until you tell me. I'm sure Ranger's told you how stubborn I can be. I will get answers whether you give them to me or not. It'll make your life easier if you tell me rather than have me running out there finding out for myself."

He ran his hand down his face, "Ok, as you already know, Ramirez has been violently sexually assaulting hookers throughout the city after your escape. Each of these women has been relaying the same message directed back to you. But starting last night, the attack was on a young college student on her way home from her night shift at a local diner off of Lexington."

I gasped, "So now he's expanding his victim base."

Tank nodded his head. "It's been a challenge locating Ramirez. He's a local celebrity with a lot of resources and a lot of people who don't want to see him behind bars."

"Thanks for the update. I'm leaving."

"Like hell you are," Lester slammed his hands down on the table with rage in his eyes.

"Not your call, Les," I said calmly.

"But it is mine," Tank stated. "And he's right, you're not going anywhere. Our orders are to keep you safe so you're staying in this building. You are not to step foot out of Rangeman."

"Women are being brutalized out there because of me, Tank. Do you expect me to just sit around and do nothing about it? This started because of me and it will end because of me. It's me he wants so it's me he'll get. Besides I don't work for you and I don't take orders from you or Ranger."

"No," Lester appeared in front of me and grabbed my arms pulling me to my feet. "Do you know how close we were to losing you the other day? What it did when we saw your face show up on those monitors? How do you think it made us feel when we found you lying on the ground covered in blood? I — _we_ thought that you had bled to death," he shook me angrily. "You were taken under my watch! Do you know what that did to me?"

I pulled back from his embrace, my heart filled with pain but I knew what I needed to do.

"Me being snatched by Ramirez wasn't your fault. I am not you responsibility. I'm a grown fucking adult. I can take care of myself. Besides, you guys barely know me!" I shouted back at him. "You just only met me, and you're only watching out for me because Ranger's paying you to."

"That's not true!" Lester spat. "We may not have known you for that long but I care about you!"

"Lester, you don't know me," I replied coldly and pushed him back. "You don't know the first thing about me. Who I am. What I've done. Where I come from. You know nothing." I turned to walk out of the room but a hand reached out for me.

"Alyssa, we only want to keep you safe. We don't want to see you get hurt again," Hal said quietly. "Please?"

How could I say no to him after seeing the pleading pain in his eyes and how he so quietly uttered the magic words to me? My heart burned. I deeply wanted to run to Lester and bury my face in his chest and tell him I didn't mean it. To reassure Hal that I know they mean well. But I don't want them to fight my fights. I don't _need_ them to fight my fights. I couldn't risk letting myself get too close.

"Fine," I replied curtly towards Tank. "I'm going back up to seven. Don't bother fucking checking up on me. I want to be left alone."

_**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**_

I paced back and forth around the apartment for a couple of hours trying to come up with an escape plan. If I can get away from a psychopath like Ramirez, I should be able to outwit a bunch of heavily armed, former military, muscular Rangeman employees who were ten times my size, right?

If I was going to do this, I had to make sure I was fast and that I didn't skip a beat. These men were obviously highly trained and I'm not so if I was going to do this, I had to be swift.

I fastened on a black ball cap and sunglasses I found in Ranger's closet, grabbed my purse and keys out of the dish and dashed down the stairs and found myself in the hall that connected to the garage from what I vaguely recalled during my first attempted escape. A man with a flaming skull tattooed on his head stepped outside of a room down the hall.

"You shouldn't be down here," he said firmly.

I charged at him and dropped to the ground into a home run slide and tagged him in the calf with the stun gun. I caught his head in my lap before he hit the ground.

"Sorry," I whispered and kissed his skull tattoo.

I checked my stitches quickly to make sure they didn't tear before running out into the garage, I used one of the many car key fobs I found in the dish and Ranger's Jeep Wrangler beeped in the corner. I slid into the car and peeled out of the garage as a number of Rangemen barged out.

It was time that I stopped acting like a coward and channel my inner Ranger…at least I hope it was my inner Ranger and not my inner stupidity.

This is my fight, boys.


	26. Chapter 26

_**Previous Chapter: **__I checked my stitches quickly to make sure they didn't tear before running out into the garage, I used one of the many car key fobs I found in the dish and Ranger's Jeep Wrangler beeped in the corner. I slid into the car and peeled out of the garage as a number of Rangemen barged out._

_ It was time that I stopped acting like a coward and channel my inner Ranger…at least I hope it was my inner Ranger and not my inner stupidity. _

_This is my fight, boys._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 26<strong>

I parked Ranger's car at Wal-Mart and took a cab to Stark Street. If the Rangemen had bugged my phone to follow me around the last couple of days, I guarantee that Ranger's car was equipped with some sort of GPS system that tracked its every movement. Plus, I couldn't risk having something happen to another one of Ranger's cars.

I sulked around Stark and Comstock, ducking in and out of alleyways dodging the occasional cop car driving by hoping to spot Ramirez but no luck. I decided to push my luck and show up at the gym he frequented. I walked through the doors and all of the men stopped their workouts to stare at me.

"Where's Ramirez," I barked.

No one moved.

"Is he fucking here or not," I shouted angrily.

An older smaller framed man stepped out of a room and walked towards me, "Ms. Chau, I presume."

"Yeah, that's right," I said trying to keep my tough guy act intact.

"My name is Jimmy Alpha. I'm Benito's manager," he stuck his hand out for me to shake.

I just glanced quickly at it and brought my gaze back up to him, "So if you're Ramirez's Manager, then you must know where he is."

"I'm afraid I don't, Ms. Chau, or I would've had him turn himself in to straighten out this whole mess."

"Straighten up? There's nothing to straighten up Mr. Alpha. Ramirez is as guilty as they come and there's no slipping out of this one. I can guarantee you that much."

"Please call me Jimmy. Benny is a good man. He's just a little confused right now. He's my prized champion and it's a lot of pressure. I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt any of those women. It has to be a misunderstanding."

"Hurt? Misunderstanding?" I strained my voice. "This was no misunderstanding, Mr. Alpha. He did more than hurt those women. There's no mistaking that. He brutalized them and I watched him as he maimed Candy. He's not a well man and he needs to be behind bars."

"You're absolutely correct about that, Ms. Chau. Benny definitely has a sickness. And if you can help me get the charges dropped, I will personally make sure that he gets the help that he needs to get well."

"No, Mr. Alpha. He needs to be behind bars. That's where he belongs. Not roaming the streets freely."

"He's a good man. He's well loved you know, Ms. Chau. Benny is our local celebrity. He gives back to the community—"

"—by mutilating our women?" I cut in abruptly.

"—by donating a lot of time and money to local charities. The youth look up to him."

"Then they're idolizing the wrong man. There are plenty of local heroes that the youth of Trenton should be looking up to. Not a serial rapist and murderer."

"That is your personal opinion. Many in the community would beg to differ. And there have been no formal charges made against him. As far as the law is concerned, he's innocent until proven guilty. And I guarantee you, Ms. Chau, he will be found innocent of all charges. I'm giving you the opportunity to work with us rather than against us. You could be rewarded handsomely for your cooperation," his voice dropping an octave going from polite to slightly sinister.

"Is that a threat, Mr. Alpha?" I said taking a bold step towards him.

He chuckled, "Oh no. I'm simply trying to help you. I would hate to see the media circus that'll be surrounding you when we end up going to trial. Benny is very influential in the community and with influence comes power. I just want to help make things easier for you. Think about, Ms. Chau. We could have you placed in a nice new luxurious new home and never have to worry about your next month's payment. I can make sure you're taken care of. That has to sound pretty nice since now you're currently homeless, am I correct? I believe I recall reading in the papers that your home was unfortunately a target of a terrible explosion."

I balled up my fist, "I don't need your help. And you're not going to get me to back down. You tell Ramirez that I'm through with his games. I can't be bought and I will find him. And he will be going down. I'll be waiting for him . Tell him to come get me because I'm ending this today."

"I'm very sorry to hear you say that, Ms. Chau. I wish you the best of luck."

"I don't need luck. I need Ramirez behind bars." I turned and stalked out the door.

A black SUV was coming down the street as I stepped out of the gym.

"Alyssa!" someone barked out the window.

_Fuck!_ I took off running as I heard the doors of the SUV slam shut and the sound of two pairs of feet chasing after me. Did they have other trackers hidden somewhere in my purse? I stuffed my hands into my purse and pulled out my baton and threw the purse to the ground and continued running.

"Alyssa, stop!" I heard Lester yell at me.

I turned a corner and slid through a small opening in the wire fence and ran down the stairs that led to a basement but the door wouldn't budge. I tried to make myself as small as possible in the corner as I heard the footsteps run past.

"Fuck, she couldn't have gotten far," I heard Bobby curse.

"Keep looking. It'll be faster if we split up. You go that way and I'll go this way," Lester directed.

I hid in the corner until the sun went down. The darkness spread quickly reducing my visibility. I tucked the baton in the back of the waistband to my cargo pants and made my way up the stairs. I walked a couple of blocks until I reached Comstock.

I did probably the dumbest thing in my life by standing out in plain sight where a slew of hookers were already congregating on along the street. I was certainly egging Ramirez on. Once I was in the middle of the street, I cupped my hand around my mouth and shouted at the top of my lungs, "Ramirez, you fucking piece of shit. I'm here come and get me, you asshole."

I paced up and down the street for a few minutes. "Are you a fucking coward or is this not enough of a game for you since I'm coming to you now? Why don't you be a fucking man and come face me? Come out, you fucking coward!" I heckled.

People began gathering out in the streets along the sidewalk to watch and point at me. But oddly enough, no one approached me.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw a flash of blue disappear down an alleyway across the street — the Blue Devil. Well, if I couldn't get Ramirez to come out tonight, maybe I could get down to the bottom of another annoyance.

Ok, Alyssa…let's get ready to rumble.


	27. Chapter 27

_**Previous Chapter: **__From the corner of my eyes, I saw a flash of blue disappear down an alleyway across the street __—__ the Blue Devil. Well, if I couldn't get Ramirez to come out tonight, maybe I could get down to the bottom of another annoyance. _

_Ok, Alyssa…let's get ready to rumble._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 27<strong>

I quickly jogged over to the alley and slowly entered the narrow pathway cursing myself for not bringing a flashlight.

I pulled out the baton from the back of my waistband flicking my wrist extending the baton in place to my side. I slowly approached a dead end that was lit up by a single flickering light. A medium built man with a nasty scar across his face stepped out of the shadows with a gun pointed directly at me.

I slowly stepped back and bumped into something. Quickly spinning my head around, I found myself staring face-to-face with the Blue Devil himself. Several men began stepping out from the shadows and within seconds I was surrounded by a number of men whom I assume were members of The Slayers gang.

I took a step forward away from the Blue Devil to face the whole crowd. The Blue Devil pulled off his mask. He couldn't have been older than nineteen years old.

"Nice of you to finally join us, Bounty Hunter," Scarface scowled in a low prickly voice.

"Because of you, Bitch, we have the cops riding up and down our streets looking for me. Business is down because of you," the Blue Devil snarled in my face.

I looked back over at Scarface, "I assume that you're Junkman."

"You're a smart cookie," he grinned.

"You had so many opportunities to kill me why toy with me?" I amused shoving back the Blue Devil into the crowd angrily.

He jumped forward to punch me but Junkman made a hand signal and he stepped back into the crowd.

"That's a neat trick," I mocked. "You should teach me that someday."

"I don't think you'll be around long enough for me to. It seems as if you're an extremely unpopular girl around in these parts, it was hard competing with everyone," he stepped up closer in closer to me, the light illuminating off of his shiny head. "Every time I set up an explosion to grab you, someone already beat me to it. I have to say it's been a fun game so far."

"Game? So, you think my life is a game."

"I mean I could shoot you point blank in the head but what fun would that be?"

"So what now?" I asked approaching him.

My plan was to show no fear. That's what they do in prison and gain respect from other inmates, right? Maybe I should stop watching so much TV. I'm starting to feel like my life was one really bad television show. Look at the characters that walked into my life…they all sound like a bunch of characters from some bad action flick. You have a Ranger, Tank, Junkman, The Blue Devil, etc. Doesn't quiet sound like real life does it?

I have no real training so I'm trying to take pointers from tv scripts now? I wasn't sure if egging on Junkman and his posse was the best move but I wasn't about to let them know they had me so terrified that I almost pissed my pants.

"Now we continue the fun."

"How do you know I don't have an army of men backing me up? As far as you know, you could be surrounded right now."

"You mean the two men you dodged earlier at the gym?" he smirked. "We've been watching you all afternoon snooping around Stark. There's no one with you."

"You seem pretty sure of yourself."

"Where would they be?"

I shrugged, "Maybe I have snipers on the rooftop."

He chuckled, "My men are on the roof and they have orders to shoot you if you try to leave."

I was stumped.

He closed in the gap between us, "I pride myself on being a fair man. So here's the game plan. You fight me and win. I'll let you go. You step outside of this circle," he pointed out the edges of the light, "the men out here have opportunity to do what they wish with you. But the light is your safety with just me. Got it?"

"How's that fair? I'm damned if I'm in this circle with you and I'm damned if I step outside."

"Because I'm only interested in killing you and the men out there have other ideas for you before killing you. With me, you'll at least have a nice swift death."

"You have a gun and I don't. I hardly call that fair."

He removed his gun and handed it to one of the men. "Now we're even," he said putting up his dukes. Nodding he pointed out my baton, "I suggest you put that down or I'll have to allow them a chance to step into the circle to remove it from you."

I retracted the baton back into place and tossed off to the side.

I looked around at the men standing circled around us. They were all watching eagerly, some waving guns around and passing money betting on the outcome. You know, I'm one that has always enjoyed being in the middle of a cipher for a good battle, but this wasn't one of those times. I supposed a dance battle could be similar to a fist fight but at least with a dance battle I knew even in defeat, I would step out of the cipher alive. No matter how I looked at the situation, I wasn't getting out of it this one alive.

Maybe Ramirez will quit his violent massive hunt for me when he finds out that I've been killed already and the cops will finally be able to arrest him. Yes, this will all work out in the end. If I was going to die, I was going damn well go down fighting. I dug my foot into the ground and pulled back into my fighting stance.

"Oh shit, China Girl's going to go Jackie Chan on his ass!" one of the guys in the crowd amused.

I ignored him and concentrated on Junkman. I was at a sore disadvantage because I didn't have much hand to hand combat experience. Again, I regret not paying more attention to _Sifu_ instead of focusing on just stick fighting. I felt vulnerable without my baton.

He threw the first punch which I was able to dodge by ducking down and kicking out his leg from under him. Jumping up, I went to strike him while he was down but missed him as he leapt to his feet and shoved me into the crowd.

Two men held onto me groping at my breasts as Junkman sucker punched me in the gut, I felt a hand go down my pants. I squirmed as I was being drawn further back into the crowd as a hand slipped under my shirt and someone pinched my nipple hard. A silver pistol was shoved into my right temple and someone punched me hard into the jaw. I fell forward to my knees and quickly crawled back into the light.

Junkman was right, I was better off with him. Junkman tried kicked out his leg to nail me in the side but I blocked him and pushed him back. I got back to my feet and wiped the blood from my lip that had split once again. The bottom of my shirt was growing heavy from the blood seeping through my shirt.

"Fuck," I muttered loudly running my hand over my abdomen and displayed my bloody palm, "Bobby's going to kill you for tearing open my stitches."

"Who the fuck is Bobby?" Junkman sneered.

"Someone who worked really hard to stitch me up and you just ruined his handy work."

I ran towards the wall and stepped off it with my right foot pushing me up as high as I could go to throw a swift side kick into Junkman's side. I landed into the crowd but they threw me back into the wall. My head slammed against the brick rendering me useless for a few minutes as I slumped against the wall motionless.

Junkman stood with his back to the crowd as they chanted, "Finish her. Finish her. Finish her…"

I wanted to jump back to my feet but the blood loss was draining me.

"I have to give it to you, Bounty Hunter, you've got some spunk in you," he wrapped his hand around my neck and dragged me up the wall.

"Something you should learn about me, I'm incredibly stubborn and I don't go down that easily," I spat directly into his eye.

Dropping me, a sharp pain shot through my body my feet connected with the pavement. I spotted my baton lying on the ground a foot away from me. Quickly dropping to the ground, I grabbed the baton flicked my wrist and sprang to my feet. I swung the baton hard into the side of his neck. He stumbled sideways but was able to kick out to his side slamming his foot into my stomach sending be flying back into the wall.

"Bitch!" He grabbed a gun from a man in the crowd and aimed it at me. The light reflected off of the shiny pistol. I willed myself back into my defensive stance and choked up blood. Wiping my mouth with the back of my arm, I flicked my wrist, baton in hand.

"You think your little stick is a match for my gun?"

"I know it is," I stood my ground.

"And why's that?"

"Because this isn't just any stick. It was a gift given to me to remind me that no matter what I have the strength to overcome anything."

"How touching."

"One thing I have to say to you before you kill me. You find this to be a fun game? You want the satisfaction of a great kill? You strike me as the kind of man that would get his kicks and giggles out of seeing this hit the front page of the newspapers.

"Well, I've got some very sad news for you, _friend_. I'm a girl with no family, my funeral service would be attended by only a handful of people who even know who I am, and I have nothing to contribute to society. So know this, you're killing a girl who no one will mourn — a girl who nobody loves. So, you'll be killing a nobody. The joke's on you, Junkman — that's a stupid name by the way. This story will be on the third page if you're even lucky."

"Who are you trying to convince, _Babe_. Me or you?" he snarled.

My face twisted, "Don't call me that."

"Awe, is there someone special that calls you that? Maybe I'll leave your head for him as a present." He waved the gun at me as if to remind me he still had it in his hand. "Any last words before I end you?"

"Yeah, please tell Ranger I'm sorry for blowing up his car and for breaking his men. Oh, and I kind of listed him as my emergency contact, so tell him I'm sorry for him having to deal with my paperwork and arrangements too," I started rattling off my laundry list. Like my _Sifu_ taught me — distraction was my greatest line of defense. When in thrown in a corner with no way out, distract.

"Shut up!" Junkman snarled. "I'm not your secretary. You're just stalling. What the fuck kind of last words are those?"

I shrugged, "It's just the first things that came to mind. Things that I'm sorry for. Sheesh, they're _my_ last words. I should be able to say what I want to say. So, I'd like to continue if you don't mind. Tell Ranger under no circumstances is he too look inside the box — don't worry he'll know what box I'm talking about. That box is to die with me, so please instruct him to burn it. I would also appreciate it if he could find Monster a good home. No matter what he thinks, he's _not_ dead…"

A set of headlights came speeding down the alley and a black town car plowed into the crowd stopping a few feet away from me.

Well, well, well. I guess the cavalry has come to rescue me after all. I smiled inwardly. At least I hope it was someone there to rescue me…


	28. Chapter 28

_**Previous Chapter: **__A set of headlights came speeding down the alley and a black town car plowed into the crowd stopping a few feet away from me. _

_Well, well, well. I guess the cavalry has come to rescue me after all. I smiled inwardly. At least I hope it was someone there to rescue me…_

* * *

><p>CHAPTER 28<p>

I was conflicted as to how I should feel: relief that someone's possibly come to save me or panic that it was more reinforcements to beat the living crap out of me?

"What the fuck?" Junkman snarled.

Ok not working with Junkman, I thought to myself.

Ramirez jumped out of the car with murder in his eyes.

_Fuck. _Not someone here to save me.

"Nobody gets to lay a hand on her except for me!" he roared.

"Fuck! It's _The Champ_!" the crowd rang out and began backing up. Some took off running down the alley and a number stayed a respectful amount of feet away. Enough to be out of the way and still be a part of the action. I don't know if they were confused as to where their alliances should lie. With Junkman whom they hired or the man who was pretty much feared along Stark.

"Who the hell are you?" Junkman snarled aiming the gun at Ramirez. "Are you, Ranger? Your chick is a crazy bitch. She's going to die!"

"I'm THE CHAMP!" he hollered. His face twisting into a murderous scowl as he charged at Junkman.

A bullet ripped through Ramirez's shoulder as Junkman started spraying him with bullets. But Ramirez just kept charging like a rampaging bull knocking Junkman off his feet. I plastered myself against the wall hoping to not get hit by a stray bullet. With one swift movement, he twisted Junkman's head and snapped it. It was just that simple — alive one second and dead the next. He got to his feet and moved towards me.

I stared speechless at Junkman's lifeless body — how easy it was for Ramirez to just take life. It all happened so fast. One blink of an eye and Junkman was no more. I spent what felt like a lifetime fighting that man off and Ramirez finished him off within a mere couple of seconds. It was just that easy.

"Uh, you're bleeding," I said blankly.

"I feel no pain," Ramirez smirked.

"You're a fucking bastard," I said scornfully. "So, does human life really mean nothing to you?" I nodded towards Junkman's lifeless body.

"I wasn't going to let him have what's mine."

"I'm not yours and I will _never_ be yours. Why'd you have to go and hurt all those women? Why did you have to kill Candy? She was innocent. She didn't deserve to die."

"She was a whore," he scowled. "She deserved it. You're a whore — prancing around all of those men, fucking that cop. You're a fucking whore and you have the nerve to turn me, _The Champ_, down?" he roared.

"I hate to break it to you, but you're not much to look at," I smirked snapping the baton out next to me. "Don't come any closer," I commanded knowing full well that I had no control over the situation.

"Women throw themselves at _The Champ_. They dream of the day they can bask in _The Champ's_ glory," he continued towards me.

I scoffed, "If they saw your tiny ding dong, I'm sure they wouldn't think much of _The Champ_. You know steroids would do that to you."

"Shut up, you bitch!" he shot off his gun. The bullet whooshed by me landing in the brick wall.

"Fuck! And Ranger tells me _I_ need to control my temper."

"Stop mentioning other men, you whore! I'm going to show you how much the other whores loved every second with me, just as you will too," he began unbuckling his belt.

"Seriously? You're going to attempt to rape me now — in the alley — full of rats —next to a dead body?" I said in astonishment. Gripping my baton tightly, I clenched my jaw and grit out, "Ramirez, I'm going to end you with every ounce of life left in me. Those women you've hurt will not suffer in vain."

His nasty lip curled into a smile, "You don't have much life left seeing how much blood has left your body. But you're right I should take you home and take care of you first and then we can have our fun. This way you won't feel so guilty for the other whores. Because you'll feel what they felt."

"Fuck you. I'd rather die before I let you lay a finger on me," I glared at him.

Ramirez charged at me as a number of armed men in black descended down the side of the building.

"Who the fuck are these men? Are you fucking these men too, whore?" he shouted madly swinging his arms out connecting with a few of the men in black.

I looked up and saw the light reflect off Hal's beautiful bald head as he brought the butt of his machine gun down on Ramirez's head followed by a few swift kicks and punches from the other men.

They aimed their heavy weaponry at Ramirez instructing him stay down on the ground. Although I was pretty sure for the number of blows that he received and the looks of him on the ground that he was already knocked unconscious. Red and white flashing lights blocked the entrance of the alleyway closing in on The Slayers gang.

I leaned into the wall and closed my eyes in relief.

"Babe."

My eyes flew open and immediately filled with tears. "You came," I said softly.

"Always, Babe," he cupped my face.

He drew me into him and embraced me carefully placing his hand over my cut applying pressure. I pressed my face into the comfort of his chest.

"I lost Salt 'n' Pepa again," I groaned.

I felt the rumble of his chest as he chuckled to himself.

"What I meant to say was. I'm sorry about your car," I corrected myself.

"It's just a car. I can replace it. You, I can't."

"But still—"

"—Nothing," he cut me off and there was a long pause. "You're wrong."

"About?" I lifted my head.

He tilted my face up to meet his eyes. "You would be mourned — severely."

"You were listening?"

"We couldn't get to you sooner. You were surrounded by too many armed men. It was too risky."

I nodded, "I understand."

"I would miss you," he placed a gentle warm kiss on my lips. My heart skipped a beat as he pulled his lips away.

"CUPCAKE!" Joe came stormed through the alley towards us.

Ranger dropped his hand from my chin as Joe approached us. He stopped short a few feet and just stared at me speechless. His beautiful brown eyes were bloodshot, his brown curls had grown out of control, and his clothes were wrinkled as if he'd been wearing them for days.

I couldn't even think of how to begin to explain to him why I was in Ranger's arms or if he had witnessed the exchanged kiss between us. I racked my brain as hard as I could but couldn't come up with anything. What was I supposed to say? He was giving me mouth to mouth because I had stopped breathing? No, because I was pretty sure that the kiss was what caused me to stop breathing to begin with.

The only thing I was able to choke out was "Joe" and brace myself for the Italian temper to lash out at me.

But he surprisingly just gave Ranger a curt nod and Ranger passed me over to him. What was I? Some sort of bouncy ball you could just pass around?

"_Here, I'm done with her. You can have her now," I mimicked Ranger's voice in my head. "Oh, thanks man. I guess it is my turn since you had her for a few days now," I mocked Joe. Ugh, men._

"Babe," Ranger lip curled glancing back at me real quick.

_Shit!_ Did I just say that out loud or did the jerk just use his ESP on me?

No time to figure that out now. I needed to deal with whatever was going to unfold in front of me at the moment while I still had the energy to do so. "Joe, I—"

Joe cupped my face and planted a hard kiss on my lips causing me to flinch back in pain and surprise.

He pulled back, "I'm sorry," he brushed his thumb over the cut on my lip and embraced me tightly. "Cupcake, I was so afraid that I was going to lose you."

"I-I'm sorry, Joe. I didn't mean to worry you."

"I'm just glad that you're safe. I'm not one of Ranger's biggest fans, but for once, I am grateful to him. I don't know what I would do without you in my life."

"Joe…" a single tear slid down my cheek.

He cupped my face once more and kissed me gently on the lips.

"I-it's just that..." he paused and the blurted out, "I love you, Alyssa."

I froze for a few seconds registering the words that slipped out of Joe's mouth. I turned my head slowly to where Ranger had been standing but like a thief in the night, he was gone.

My heart ached. I looked back at Joe's warm pleading eyes. Little black spots started dancing around as I fainted in his arms.


	29. Chapter 29

_**Previous Chapter: **__"I-it's just that..." he paused and the blurted out, "I love you, Alyssa." _

_I froze for a few seconds registering the words that slipped out of Joe's mouth. I turned my head slowly to where Ranger had been standing but like a thief in the night, he was gone. _

_My heart ached. I looked back at Joe's warm pleading eyes. Little black spots started dancing around as I fainted in his arms._

**CHAPTER 26**

* * *

><p>I slowly opened my eyes.<p>

"She's awake!" I heard Misty squeal as she squeezed my hands.

I smiled as a swarm of large men in black surrounded my bed looking anxious.

"Hi," I croaked out looking around the room. "It looks like a Florist threw up in here," I commented on the dozens of flowers, balloons and stuffed animals filling the room.

This brought a smile to the men's eyes as they all began attacking me with kisses and hugs.

"Ranger?"

"You know I'm hurt that you are always looking for my cousin and not me," Lester feigned hurt.

"He's covering back at Rangeman so that all of us could be here to watch over you," Bobby explained.

My heart sunk a little disappointed that Ranger had not been there when I woke up.

"Ok, I'm going to need everyone to leave unless you're family," a voice commanded from the doorway.

"We are family!" everyone barked in unison.

"Ok," the doctor surrendered seeing that he wasn't going to want to start a fight with the overbearing men in black. I didn't blame him, they looked like a scary bunch.

"Ms. Chau, you're a very lucky lady. You lost quite a deal of blood. You're fortunate so many people volunteered to be a donor."

"Beautiful, you have my blood coursing through your veins now. You're stuck with me for life," Lester grinned wildly.

"God, why didn't you just let me die?" I groaned jokingly.

"Don't say things like that!" Misty exclaimed.

"I was just kidding, Mis."

"You don't know how scared I was. What am I supposed to do without you?" she cried squeezing my hand.

"I'm sorry, Misty. I promise I won't ever do that to you again," I said sarcastically.

"You better not!" she exclaimed flipping her long beautiful wavy hair.

"Uh, Mis. Last I saw you, your hair was short as the dickens. How'd your hair grow back so fast?"

"It just happens to be the best hair extension money can buy," she grinned snapping the hair clip off her head.

"Really? You're wearing your own hair as a hair extension?"

"Yup! So now I can be spunky fun short-haired bobcat or sexy long-haired vixen."

I smiled shaking my head and turned back to the doctor, "When can I get out of here, doc?"

"Ms. Chau, you lost a great deal of blood. We're going to have to keep you here at least overnight for observation. I do have a bit of bad news for you."

I gulped.

"Due to the number of times you've torn the stitches in your stomach. It's going to leave a pretty ugly scar once it's healed."

I sighed in relief, "That, I can handle, doctor. But staying in this bed is another story."

A handsome male nurse walked into the room and injected something into my IV. "This is something to help you with the pain," he explained and nodded at the doctor before leaving.

"But I'm feeling much better, honestly. I want to go home—" I stopped mid-sentence remembering I didn't have a home to go to. My apartment was blown up. "I-I don't have a home," I stuttered blankly.

"Oh, Alyssa. You can stay with me while your apartment is being worked on," Misty expressed.

"Beautiful, you're welcome to stay with me and Bobby."

"Little Girl, we can clear an apartment at Rangeman for you."

Everyone started chiding in at once.

"Like I said, Ms. Chau, you're one lucky girl. I've seen people come in here with nothing and even those who have loved ones. But none of them as dedicated as these people. You have all these big lugs that wouldn't even leave your side the entire night. You'd think you were the daughter of the President of the United States the way they guarded your bed. And this one," he pointed at Bobby, "was threatening me the entire time we operated on you seeing to that we made sure to take good care of you. I hope you realize how incredibly fortunate you are. I'll leave you to rest."

"Thank you doctor but before you leave, you have to promise to get me out of here as soon as possible."

"I promise, Ms. Chau, but being in the hospital can't be that bad of a place."

"I have my reasons for hating hospitals, doctor. No offense."

"None taken. Make sure she gets some rest," he instructed the men.

"I'm serious, Little Girl. You have a place to go if you choose."

"I couldn't impose, Tank. I'll be fine."

"Don't be stubborn, Little Girl. We will take care of you regardless of whether you want it or not."

"She's staying with me," a voice said from the doorway.

Joe stepped through the wall of men in black and leaned over to kiss me on the lips.

"My cue to go," Misty said standing up. "I'm going to go talk to that nurse from earlier to make sure you have everything you need," she grinned.

"Misty, please make sure he finishes his shift before you take him home, ok?"

"Oh you know you always come first in my book," she kissed me on the cheek and bounded out the door.

"You guys can go now. I can take it from here," Joe stated.

Tank shot me a look as if to ask if I was ok.

"Thank you all for everything. I'll be ok."

"Ok then we'll leave you to rest. Do not hesitate to call if you need anything," Tank said firmly.

I nodded.

Bobby leaned over and kissed me on the forehead and whispered, "You were right, I would've killed Junkman. But not simply for tearing your stitches. It was too bad Ramirez beat me to it."

"We're your family now," Lester said kissing my head. "Just try getting rid of us now."

Hal awkwardly touched my knee, "I'm glad you're ok, Bomber."

I smiled at him.

After all of the men filed out of the room another set of men piled into the room.

"Alyssa, it's never a dull day with you," Carl chuckled.

"Well, you know Costanza, I live to entertain you," I joked.

"Seriously, Alyssa, I'm glad that you're ok," he ruffled my hair.

"Thanks, Carl," I smiled warmly.

"You'll be glad to know that Ramirez is locked away behind bars. And Lula has agreed to testify against him along with the other women he attacked. He'll be going away for a long time. And because of you one of the largest drug gang syndicates has been taken out of commission. We made twenty-seven arrests associated to the gang. Just so you know, you have the entire Trenton P.D. behind you whenever you need."

The men saluted me.

"You're a hero, Cupcake," Joe said warmly sliding into the bed next to me kissing me passionately on the lips.

"Joe," I whispered pulling back, "there are people in the room."

"I don't care. I want everyone to know how incredibly in love I am," he pulled me into his arms and kissed me once again.

"Geez, get a room you guys," Carl joked.

"We have a room," Joe growled. "You just happen to be crowding it, Costanza."

"Hey, we care about her too, you know," he said defensively.

"Yes, you've seen her and she's ok. So why don't you get out of here so that I can spend some time with my girlfriend?"

"Roger that," Carl did a half-assed salute and pushed the other men out of the room and shut the door.

"Girlfriend?" I questioned him.

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" he kissed me warmly.

"No…" I melted into his arms.

"I love you, Alyssa," he breathed into my mouth.

"I-I…" I pulled him into me and kissing him hard on the lips.

_**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**_

"Cupcake," Joe whispered in my ear waking me from my slumber.

The room was pitch black.

"I'm sorry but I have to go into the station and take care of another case I'm working on."

"Ok," I murmured.

"Sorry I woke you," he kissed my lips softly. "I didn't want you to panic when you woke up and I wasn't here. I'll be back in the morning in time to take you home. I love you, Cupcake."

"I…" I drifted back to sleep.

_**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**_

"Ranger!" I gasped sitting up as I clutched the blanket.

Sweat was dripping down my face as I grabbed my stomach wincing in pain and tears instantly spilled from my eyes. I opened my eyes and looked at the bed, it was covered in blood. Throwing the blankets off of me, I started trying to rub the blood off.

"Babe, relax," a pair of arms gently laid me back in the bed and pulled the blanket back around me. The blood had disappeared. My breathing slowed.

"Ranger?" I whispered.

It was so dark that all I could see was his silhouette.

"I'm here, Babe."

"It's about time," I pulled him down into the bed with me.

He slid in beside me and wrapped his strong arms around me kissing my head. He held me silently.

"Ranger?"

"Babe."

"I'm sorry about Salt 'n' Pepa — I mean your car. I'll pay you back."

"It's just a car — written off as a business expense. And the bad music can be easily replaced."

"_Great_ music," I corrected him. "Ranger?"

"Babe."

"I'm sorry for breaking Hal's nose. I thought he was trying to kill me."

I could feel the soft rumble in his chest as he held in a chuckle, "Hal's ok. What concerns me is that you threw your gun at him instead of trying to use it."

"Throwing it at him _was_ using it," I protested. "And it worked. Hal's nose is evidence of that."

"Babe," he said disapprovingly. "You should keep the gun loaded and on you at all times."

I puffed out and replied dismissively, "Tank's such a tattle tale."

He let out a soft chuckle this time. It was like music to my ears.

"Ranger?"

"Babe."

"I'm sorry for stabbing, Lester in the arm. I thought he was Ramirez."

"It was time he was put in his place anyways. He's getting too cocky."

I frowned, "Ranger? I'm sorry for tasering the man with the flaming skull tattoo. I hope he wasn't hurt."

His chest rumbled again, "Cal. He's fine. You hurt mostly his pride. You've always been resourceful and cunning."

I beamed at his compliment. "Ranger?" I whispered loudly.

"Yes, Babe?"

"I'm sorry for listing you as my emergency contact. I can change it if it makes you uncomfortable."

"Babe, you trust me that much?" he tilted my head up.

I nodded, "Of course. I trust you with my life."

"I am honored to be your emergency contact. And stop apologizing. You've done nothing wrong."

I settled into the nook of his arm and thought about the kiss in the alley and him telling me that he'd miss me…

"Ranger, I—"

"—Morelli's a good man," Ranger interrupted me.

My heart sank. He said he didn't do relationships and they say people do and say extreme things during extenuating situations.

"I care for you, Babe."

I gripped his shirt.

"In my own way," he continued.

_"What the hell was that supposed to mean?"_ I screamed in my head.

"It means that I don't do relationships. I care for you and I _care_ about you in my own way. Morelli _loves_ you. He's a good man."

"I know," I replied pressing my face into his side.

He lifted my face and kissed me slowly and it grew hungrier as he pressed on. Confused I pulled back, "But you just said—"

"I respect Morelli, but it doesn't mean I won't partake in the occasional stolen kisses. And if there's an open window of opportunity, I will move in swiftly."

"What's that supposed to mean—"

He shut me up with another sensuous kiss, "Babe, like promised, I will always be there for you — forever."

A tear fell from my eye now understanding what Ranger meant by caring about me in his own way. I would be his friend for life no matter what and he was mine.

"Ranger?"

"Yes, Babe."

"I missed you."

He kissed my head in response.

I wrapped my arm around him, "Ranger, your cousin's hot."

I felt his muscles tense up causing me to giggle. "But he's no Batman," I crooned drifting into Slumberland.


	30. Chapter 30

_**A/N: ** Sorry this chapter is so short but the story is now going to come to a close. I wanted to keep this chapter short and sweet._

_**Previous Chapter: **__"Ranger?"_

_ "Yes, Babe."_

_ "I missed you."_

_ He kissed my head in response._

_ I wrapped my arm around him, "Ranger, your cousin's hot."_

_ I felt his muscles tense up causing me to giggle. "But he's no Batman," I crooned drifting into Slumberland._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 30<strong>

"Cupcake, are you ready to go home?" Joe whispered in my ear kissing my neck.

"Hmm…Oh yes!" I smiled flinging my eyes open. Ranger was gone. When he left during the night was lost on me.

He chuckled, "Let me make sure that the doc is finished with the paperwork and we'll head out. Why don't you get dressed? Misty dropped off some clothes for you in the bag on the chair."

I nodded my head eagerly.

"I can't wait to get you home. My bed feels so empty without you in it," he leaned in and kissed me quickly on the lips. "This was on your bed when I came in this morning," he handed me a black box with a pink bow on top before walking out of the room.

I pulled open the top and inside was my baton nicely polished with the words "Babe" gleaming but it had something new etched next to it — the word "forever" — Forever Babe.

_**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**_

Joe carried me over the threshold into his house. Bob immediately started charging at us.

"Bob, heel!" Joe commanded causing Bob to halt immediately sliding across the floor.

Once he came to a stop he pranced out the door and did his business before returning to the house. Joe laid me gently down onto the couch.

"Welcome home," he smiled leaning into me.

"Thank you," I smiled back. "Are you sure that you're ok with me living here. It could take months before my apartment is ready. And I don't know if I could really afford to pay rent for my apartment and for living here."

"Cupcake, I'm sure we could find an alternative source of payment," he said kissing my neck.

"Joe," I squirmed under him, "do you think we're moving kind of fast."

"I don't know any other way to move," he nibbled my earlobe. "There's nothing you can say to me right now that's going to change my mind about this arrangement. You're stuck with me whether you like it or not."

And there was that threat again. I moaned as he kissed the nape of my neck and slid his hand under my shirt, "Joe, my stitches."

"Don't worry. I plan to take real good care of you for the next couple of weeks while you fully recover. You just lie back and relax and let me take care of you." He slid my shirt over my head.

"What if you hate me after a few days of living with me? I'm not the easiest person to live with. And I've lived alone for a very long time."

"Cupcake, what makes you think I'm easy to live with? We'll work through it. Plus, you won't be able to get me out of your hair anytime soon. I love you too much."

I sank my teeth into his shoulder as he slipped his hand down my pants and spread my lips apart flicking my clit. "Take me upstairs, Joe," I groaned.

"Your wish is my command, Cupcake."

As Joe carried me up the stairs to his bed, I thought about the past month's events. It all just felt so surreal, like some sort of dream. This kind of stuff happened in the movies, not real life. I fought my entire life to lead a simple and normal life. Trying desperately to grasp onto the idea of being "normal" — to be blend into the crowd. But maybe it was time to accept that my life is anything but normal and embrace the wackiness of it all. Because the wackiness has not just brought in whole lot of bad in my life, it was balanced out with a whole lot of good.

If somebody had said to me a month ago that my heart would be tugged in two different directions by two incredibly sexy men, I would've dismissed them as being delusional.

If they had explained to me that I would be taking down gangs and throwing serial rapists and murders behind bars, I would've scoffed at them and thought they were insane.

If they had expressed that I would end up in domesticated situation with a drop dead gorgeous Italian cop, I would've responded, _"Dream on."_

If they had told me that I would meet a friend for life, someone who would stop at nothing to protect me from harm, I would've replied, _"A girl could only hope." _

Thank God, I've never lost sight of hope.

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><p><em>One more final chapter!<em>


	31. Chapter 31

_**Previous Chapter: **__If they had told me that I would meet a friend for life, someone who would stop at nothing to protect me from harm, I would've said, "A girl could only hope." _

_ Thank God, I've never lost sight of hope._

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 31<strong>

I gave the camera a quick finger wave and walked through the metal doors.

"Hey, Bomber," Cal called out to me from the control room.

"Hey, Cal," I handed him a white paper bag.

"What's this?"

"Contraband," I smiled at him and gave him a kiss on the head.

He pulled the cupcake out of the bag and inhaled it. "Thanks, Bomber!"

I proceeded to the elevator and made my way up to the fifth floor. Two weeks has passed since Ramirez was arrested for his crimes. Women were stepping out of the woodworks readily volunteering to testify against Ramirez and his crimes. His arraignment was scheduled in a few weeks.

Lula started working at Vinnie's as a File Clerk and Connie beamed about how she was a filing machine. Vinnie, however, hasn't left his office since Lula started after he made an attempt to hump her while she was bent over on her first day. Vinnie quickly learned that she was not a woman to mess with as she threatened to have his balls the next time he ever tried to come close to touching her again.

Living with Joe has proven to be pretty easy. Joe was pretty low maintenance and made sure to keep the bedroom very active and exciting. I was a lucky girl whose life was filled with a number of great people after a short few weeks.

I stepped into the break room holding up a pink box in my left hand and my right hand on my hip. All of the men in black stopped to whistle at me and gave them an appreciative curtsy in my new white sundress courtesy of Misty. I walked in and set the box on one of the tables.

"Hal-osaurus!" I said loudly as I pulled out a tube of bright red lipstick out of my purse.

Hal lifted his head up to look directly at me.

I gave him a big grin, "A little birdie tells me that it's your birthday today." I applied a generous coat of lipstick onto my lips and opened up the pink box and pulled out a chocolate cupcake with yellow frosting and smiling green stegosaurus on top of it and slowly walked over to Hal.

I turned him so that he was facing me and I sat my ass down across his legs and crossed my legs carefully licking the icing off of my fingers before holding it up to his mouth for him to take a bite.

"How old are you, Hal-osaurus?"

"U-uh, thirty-three."

"Wow, that's going to be a mighty lot of kisses," I said placing the cupcake down on the table and wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned into his ear. "I told you I was going to make it up to you. So here goes," I smiled whispering into his ear.

"One…" I kissed his cheek… "Two…" I kissed his forehead… "Three…" I kissed the top of his head… "Four…" I kissed his neck…

"Beautiful, do I get this treatment on my birthday?" Lester bellowed.

I continued kissing all over his head covering him in red lipstick. All of the men in the room were hooting and hollering.

"And last but not least, thirty-three…" I planted a kiss on his nose.

The sound of someone clearing their throats loudly echoed in the room silencing every man. Hal jumped to his feet quickly causing me to fall off of his lap landing on my ass.

"Sorry, Boss," Hal's whole head turned a shade of red that was in close competition to my lipstick. He looked down at me and quickly helped me to my feet, "S-sorry, Bomber."

"Get back to work," Ranger barked at everyone. "Babe, my office," he commanded as he left the break room.

"What a buzz kill," I muttered straightening out my dress.

Lester gave me a kiss on the cheek, "Beautiful, you're one in a million."

Hal, stuffed his cupcake in his mouth. "Thanks, Bomber," he smiled appreciatively as hurried out the door covered in lipstick.

"You better go, Little Girl, before the Bossman has an aneurism," Tank said guiding me towards the door. I quickly grabbed a pink frosted cupcake before sliding through the door.

I stepped into Ranger's office. "You wanted to see me, your highness?" I asked licking the frosting on the edge of the cupcake.

He was sitting behind his desk with his hands steepled. He gave me a curt nod, "Close the door."

I shut the door. "You could at least say, please," I said haughtily as I turned around to face him.

And in a flash he was hovering millimeters from my face. My heart began thumping inside my chest like a Mexican Jumping Bean.

"Cupcake," I squeaked holding up the cupcake to his face.

He shook his head no.

"It's really good," I blinked at him licking off some of the frosting with the tip of my tongue.

He leaned in and plunged his tongue between my lips and gave me a long hard sensual kiss.

"You're right, it's good. I don't know if I like you coming in and kissing my men," he said pressing me against the door kissing me harder.

"I had to make it up to him for breaking his nose and it was his birthday," I breathed heavily.

"And there wasn't any other way?" he kissed my neck.

"No," I squealed quietly.

"You had to do it in this dress?" he growled tracing the lining hugging my breasts.

"Mmmm…hmmm."

"Do you plan on doing that for all of my men?"

"I don't know. I may have to plan something better," I teased leaning my head back and he buried his head into the nape of my neck.

I threw my arms around his neck and jumped up wrapping my legs around his torso and kissed him hungrily.

"What are you planning for mine?" he ground himself up against me.

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise," I nipped his bottom lip.

"Babe, you could kill a man," he groaned.

"Good to know, Batman," I smiled and hopped off of him ducking under his arms and made my way to his desk. I sat down on the edge and took a bite of the cupcake.

"Babe," he said with a hint of disappointment.

"Ranger," I smiled coyly at him, "you know I'm with Joe officially now and I'm not playing your little games. Friends?"

He walked over and kissed me gently on the lips.

"Friends," he confirmed leaning his head on mine.

We held each other's gaze for a few minutes.

"Forever's a long time, Ranger."

"Forever's not long enough, Babe."

**The End**

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><p><strong><strong>_I hope that you've enjoyed Alyssa's story and I thank you for continuing the story with me. I'm going to let Alyssa take a little break before we jump into her next adventure. So, please join me on her next journey in a couple of weeks which will be titled "Internal Affairs of the Heart." _


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